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y-O popynent Entry . 
GLASS CL AW. No. 



Copyright 1908 

by 

SUMNER GILBERT WOOD 






•\ 




kxpl*N&-|oN 




fifths, of an ancient plan to 

is appi ii ■!■ "THIS 

PLAN' DESCRIB1 

of Hampshire. Lying upon Sheffield 
Road. It also describes the several 
Lots Belonging to the chief Pro- 
prietors (as is Represented by the 
hrst Letter of their Nam. 
.Number And also the subdivision of 
the Settlers part. And len , 
v." P'V,? 1 ' laid °"tbctv...„ the Lots 
« | st and N-. u East in the 
hrst Division of Said Seltli 

Surveyed partly by M' Roger New- 
bury of Windsor ,(,,„,„„ Sur . 
vey- and partly by jot,,, llu.i 

ppearbv the Original 
' «en from a true cop 
Westneld April 19a ,;, 

BARNETT ilARKIN ' 
tophei |ac..b _ t 
o .. Lawtim 

p' ,. Francis Bnnlev 

w ■■ ! 

;;■ , francis Wells 



tier, the first dp 1 ■ , . , 

er, the second division, .,,„, 
by the second division street 

«.« u™ he Shef- 

field. Ilousatonic, Great Barr, 

being the village street. 

-'■'<■■' Ml red 
■•'- ""heated thus _„_ 
?■"} "*>»* ' ancient and modern 

' .band„„"l Manv 
..mted to a, ml '.I 

sitated by inaccuracies of the' 
Braeral scheme is L 

: "hnbrool," ' ,1, he 

1,1 "' having been 1 1 , r 

The road indicatod i],„. 

iecS 

"vard 



i' 1 

i.e. p. .11,1 
B. The branch; now. Peebles 



B3 B Bedlam brook 
Y B , Freehold brook. 
Brook. 
North Meadow brook. 
.1 hrook. 

W B . Wheel, 

c A G , Aimer Qjbbl House 



K B T . Reuben Bois 
1 I ' "i.'r tavern 
" II II .rn.i.n-Suu 






III 






1 1. 1 



Mitctllantous: 

W 11 . Walnut inn 
J. B, lei 
P X ft 1 



Contents 



Chapter I. 
Pixley's Tavern, 1 

Chapter II. 

The Corner Tavern: The Hustons and Peases, . 19 

Chapter III. 
The Corner Tavern: The Ashmuns and their 

Successors, 34 

Chapter IV. 
The old Post Road: or, The Berkshire Road, . 68 

Chapter V. 
The Street and The Old Aristocracy, .... 98 

Chapter VI. 
The New Aristocracy and The New Village,. . 147 

Chapter VII. 
Beech Hill, 186 

Chapter VIII. 
Social Functions of The Tavern, 216 

Chapter IX. 
Turnpike Stories 252 

Chapter X. 
The Westfield River Branches and The East Part 269 

Chapter XI. 
The North End, 286 

Chapter XII. 

Tales of Stage-coach and Wayside Inn, . . . 307 



List of Illustrations 

Turnpike of 1829: "Number Three" Frontispiece 

Opposite page 

Pixley's Farm, 8 

Blair Pond, ... 16 

Congregational Meeting House, . . .24 

"Albany Road," looking up to School House, . . 24 
Barn of Comer Tavern — Ashmun's, . . .32 

The Hon. George Ashmun, 36 

The "New Hotel" of Russell Sage, Esq., ... 52 

House of Reuben Boise, Esq., 68 

Front Stairway and Parlor Cupboard, . . .72 
Berkshire Road, at foot of Step Hill, .... 80 

Mile-stone on Berkshire Road, 84 

Benjamin Scott's Tavern 88 

Walnut Hill 88 

Parlor Fireplace, Scott's Tavern, 96 

Old Parade Ground — The Ten-acre Lot, . . .100 

The Town Street, 104 

Capt. Abner Pease's Tavern, 112 

The Business Centre of the New Village, . . .112 

The Samuel Boies Tavern, 116 

Site of Episcopal Church and Job Almy's, . .120 
Site of Deacon William Boise's Store, . . .128 
Tavern Sign and old Hatch Tavern, . . . .148 

East End of New Village, 164 

House of John Boies, etc., 184 

At the Gore, 184 

Road on Beech Hill, 192 

House of Jedediah Smith, Esq., 196 



Deacon Robert Lloyd's House, 200 

Front Stairway, Dea. Lloyd's House, .... 208 

Kitchen Fireplace 212 

Birch Hill, 248 

Gate House, 256 

Tavern at horth Blandford, 256 

Turnpike of 1829 : Meadow, 260 

Turnpike of 1829: Long Hill, 264 

F alley's Cross Roads — Huntington, . . . .272 

"East Part" Tavern — Parks's, 276 

Well-sweep, ..'..' 280 

Harroun-Sinnet- Bruce Tavern, 288 

Harroun-Sinnet- Bruce Bar-room, 288 

Taggart Tavern, 292 

Capt. Abner Gibbs's House, 292 

First House of Reuben Boise, Esq., .... 296 

Harroun-Sinnet- Bruce Tavern 296 

Cellar Stairs, Taggart Tavern, 304 

The Baird Tavern 308 

Bar-room, 308 

The Green-woods Road, 312 

"County Road from James Beards to Barrington, 

Road," . . 320 

Watson E. Boise, 324 

Little River, 328 

Westfield River at Russell, . . . Appendix 

House at Northerly End o f Pixley's Farm, 

Appendix 



"®Ij? totljrrtt . ♦ . . rantr tn mrrt us as far 
as ®lj£ Jftarket nf Apptus atto ®lj? QJl}r?£ 
©aufrtiB; wljom uifynt Paul saw, In* Hjankro 
<&nb, attu tuck nmraru?." 

Gtyr Arts nf St?r Apnsta. 



Foreword 

This little book is a sort of by-product. For five 
years past, or more, I have been engaged in the study 
of the history of this town, having made minute 
investigation of the town and church records, then 
of a couple of thousand or so of deeds in the Spring- 
field registry, supplementing this by a like study of 
other material in both Springfield and Northampton, 
such as inventories, records of license, of county 
roads, etc. Little by little, as my friends became 
interested in my work, through their kindness I 
received access to other documents, as rare as they 
are valuable to our local history. In writing up 
this material it was my intent to devote two or 
three chapters to the tavern features, which pres- 
ently expanded to such proportions as to demand 
much more space. In no small degree the tavern 
and turnpike story shapes and describes the social 
development of the town, so rich in fact and incident. 
So I concluded to test my ability to interest the 
natural constituency to which Blandford history 
might appeal, by the publication of this monograph, 
before running the larger risk always attaching to 
the publication of the conventional local history, 
the circulation of which is necessarily narrow. 
Should this little volume meet with such response 
as to warrant the venture, it is my intent to follow 
it by another, and larger, on "The Homes and 
Habits of Ancient Blandford." 



The spelling of certain proper names in this book 
may seem to be peculiar; but so was the spelling 
of the fathers. Carnachan, Carnahan, Cannon are 
the same name; so are Loughead and Lloyd; so 
are Boies, Boise, Boys, Boice, etc. They so occur 
in the records. Beard and Baird are interchange- 
able. I have conformed my custom to theirs, and 
am contemporary with them. I have even followed 
this habit in certain respects to the spelling of the 
names of the places. If I am open to criticism in 
this particular, it is a small matter. I have tried 
to live with these people and to think as they did. 

I am under lasting bonds of gratitude to many 
helpers; to the town clerk of Blandford, Mr. Enos 
W. Boise, for continuous courtesies, documentary 
material and traditions; to Mr. William J. Keep, 
of Detroit, Mich., for reminiscences of Rev. John 
Keep; to Miss Cornelia Warren, of Waltham, for 
similar material concerning Rev. Dr. Dorus Clarke; 
to Mr. H. L. Butler, of Philadelphia, Pa., for in- 
valuable memories of Rev. Daniel Butler; to Mrs. 
Elizabeth H. Morton, of Springfield, for voluminous 
and valuable biographical material concerning the 
Ashmuns; to Mr. Enos Boise Lewis, for a facsimile 
of an ancient plan of the town; to Mrs. Bliss and Miss 
Harriet C. Bliss, of New Britain, Conn., for illumin- 
ating incidents; to Miss Lauraette Smith, for price- 
less documents, particularly the ledgers of Col. 
Samuel Sloper and Jedediah Smith, Esq., and for 
the court docket of the latter, as well as for mis- 
cellaneous matter; to Mr. Andrew Soule of Otis for 
assistance in locating Scott's tavern: also for tradi- 
tion and story to the following; Mrs. Julia Hamilton, 



Mrs. Susan B. Nye, Messrs. H. A. and H. L. Blair, 
A. L. Stewart, Asa Culver, C. R. Miner, W. D. 
Healy, Lester Moore, Mrs. Barber Nye, Miss Hattie 
Emmons, Mrs. H. B. Sperry, Rev. Wm. A. Lloyd of 
Chicago, and to the late Hon. Samuel Knox and 
Mr. Samuel A. Bartholomew. 

By no means least of all has assistance been given 
me by my wife, in literary criticism, in preparation 
of the map, in making the cover design, and in sym- 
pathetic co-operation with me in all my work. 

Besides, I owe a debt of gratitude to many house- 
holders and good wives who have repeatedly thrown 
open their house to my presence and my camera for 
interior views, and for other courtesies. Whatever 
may be the fate of this book, these many personal 
friendlinesses will ever remain with me as a memory 
of appreciation. 

A large mass of literature on which I have depended 
has been freely quoted or referred to in the text, 
and is fully acknowledged in foot-notes, passim. 




Chapter One 

P ixley V Ta v er n 



T 



"^HE subject of road-making is interest- 
ing or dry according to one's point of 
view. The surveyor's account is apt 
not to be thrilling. But when one consid- 
ers that a highway is a not unimportant 
factor in the tide of human life, that over its 
surface vibrates to and fro the commerce of 
a people, that by means of it fortunes are 
made and unmade, that human hearts throb 
with joy or sink down in gloom as they 
traverse its length, that wedding companies 
and funeral processions pass along it as in 
Cana and Nain, that it has taken its full 
share in the development of the home and 
of the State, as men have studied and toiled 
and sweat upon it in the subjugation of 
nature so inviting yet so unwilling and 
stubborn, the roadway becomes the stage 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

for a drama. Long after, when you behold 
this same highway become grass- grown and 
covered with a mantle of forest foliage, as 
year by year it has dropped backward into 
primeval silence and oblivion, until only by 
accident or painful searching you discover 
it at all, its once hospitable and cheery asso- 
ciates — the homes of the people — having 
fallen silently into so many cellars over 
which lilac and tansy or greensward and 
maple have gently erected nature's living 
memorial, or mayhap a Lombardy poplar or 
two is watching in stately silence over the 
dead and gone, the road means much. Just 
as much it means when this humanity is in 
the midst of hubbub and dust. The road 
whether old or new, has its still living interest. 
A tavern is nothing except as it becomes 
vocal with the tongues of men, and a road 
is eloquent when human voices speak along 
it and human hearts find the coursings of 
life through it as though an artery. 

In the old town of Blandford, originally 
known as Glasgow, New Glasgow, or Glascow 
Lands,* the earnest student of its history, 

* Usually spelled, in original dacumsats, Glascow or Glasgo Lands. 



PIXLEY'S TAVERN 

assisted by here and there an oldest inhab- 
itant and now and then a musty old deed, 
discovers abandoned roads everywhere. 
When one newly comes to his ken, a still 
profounder reverence has he for the struggle 
for life and character of his forbears — and 
for himself and his contemporaries, whose 
story the scribe with the inkhorn by his side 
has not yet completed. 

This Blandford of the olden time occupied 
a position analogous to that of the modern 
busy railroad town. Alike in peace and war 
important thoroughfares crossed its hilltops 
and ravines. From the town's infancy, until 
the railroad, hugging the streams of the 
valley, left it in attenuating loneliness, Bland- 
ford was listed in the almanacs of the day 
on the post and stage routes as an important 
station. Tavern and turnpike in Blandford 
yield a rich chapter of fact and event to the 
local historian, a chapter flavored with an 
element of cosmopolitanism not to be ignored. 
The stranger, even the modern resident, 
finds it not easy to realize what bustle of 
travel and traffic there used to be over these 
now quiet roads. 

3 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

"A region of repose it seems, 
A place of slumber and of dreams, 
Remote among the wooded hills." 
But there is something to remember, some- 
thing to glean out of the remote past, grow- 
ing remoter as one and another octogenarian 
goes on into the silent land, with all the 
wealth of his memories of a day, the vanish- 
ing ghosts of which he has been able to call 
up from the slumbering years. The wayside 
inn, 

"Built in the old Colonial day, 
When men lived in a grander way, 
With ampler hospitality," 
is with us still, here and there standing, or, 
quite as likely, a crumbling ruin, mute and 
eloquent witness of days almost forgotten. 

For good or ill — one may say, for good and 
ill — the tavern has been a fundamental in- 
stitution in the development of New England 
society. It should be classed perhaps third 
with the church and the school as formative 
and expressive of the life and institutions of 
the people; necessarily so, since New Eng- 
enders, with all their strictness and with all 
their inquisitorial fashions, were a social 



PIXLEY'S TAVERN 

folk, having to do not alone with each other 
but with the whole world. The tavern was 
a chief intermediary, and the tavern-keeper 
"lived by the side of the road." 

Before ever there was a settlement in 
Glasgow there was a tavern. The wilderness 
was becoming surveyed and mapped. The 
adventurer was making lonely marches across 
country, or laboriously marking out bound- 
aries with a trusty surveyor,— two prophetic 
personages, heralds of the civic life that was 
to be. Meanwhile the proprietor aforesaid 
was crossing and re-crossing the length of the 
State on horse-back in order to induce the 
Great and General Court to lend the needed 
authority for the consummation of the enter- 
prise. 

The name of Glasgow had been preceded 
by the descriptive lingo, "Suffield Equivalent 
Lands," a phrase derived from that stage of 
real estate transition intervening between 
provincial ownership and the proprietorship 
which contemplated the immediate creation 
of the town. There were boundary disputes 
between Massachusetts and Connecticut, and 
similar differences between towns, all of 

5 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

which found their adjustment by the trading 
of lands, until at last Christopher Jacob 
Lawton, a resident of Sum eld, attorney and 
large land speculator, became leading pro- 
prietor of the aforesaid tract. He shortly 
shared this proprietorship with three others 
of kindred spirit. 

It was in the early thirties of the eighteenth 
century. Springfield and Westfield were 
thriving towns, and to the westward lay the 
district or tract known as Houssatanick, or 
Housatunnock. Here Lawton had interests 
as well as in Suffield Equivalent. Naturally 
he would want to establish communication 
between the separated estates, a commend- 
able purpose running parallel with the desire 
of the Province, which was anxious to settle 
and develop into towns all this outfying 
region. So Lawton asked the Legislature for 
a grant of five hundred acres of Province land 
along this way for the purposes of a tavern. 
That august body replied as follows: 

Order granting a plat of 300 Acres of 
Land to Christopher Jacob Lawton* 

* Acts and Resolves of the Province of Massachusetts Bay 
Vol. 11, pp. 684 and 685 
Chap. 83 Resolves of 1732-33 



PIXLEY'S TAVERN 

"A Petition of Cornelius* Jacob Laughton 
of Suffield Setting forth the extream badness 
of that part of the Road from Westfeild to 
Albany that lies between Westfeild & Housa- 
tannuck & the great Hardship that Travellers 
are forced to Suffer especially in the Winter 
Season there being no House for the Space 
of forty Miles praying the Grant of Five 
Hundred Acres of province Land upon Con- 
dition that he build & keep a House of 
Entertainm* near Midway on the s rf Road. 
Read & in Answer to this Petition 

"Ordered that the prayer of the Petition r 
be so far granted as that the Petition r have 
Leave by a Survey r & Chainmen on Oath to 
survey & lay out three Hundred Acres of 
Land in a regular Form not less than fifteen 
Miles from one of the within mentioned 
Towns as the Road goes, to lay on s^ Road 
as it is now used, & return a Plan thereof to 
this Court at the next May Session for Con- 
firmation. W ck Grant is hereby confirmed 
to the petition r his Heirs & Assigns for ever, 
He complying with the following Conditions 
viz' that he does by the first day of October 

* Given name appears as Christopher in subsequent legislation . 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

next erect & compleatly finish on s d Land 
& near said Road a Dwelling House forty four 
feet long, Eighteen feet wide & eight feet 
Post at least & also a Sutable Stable for 
Horses, & shall fence clear & sufficiently stock 
with English Grass, three Acres of Land by 
the first Day of Sept r 1734. & two Acres 
more each of the succeeding Years, That the 
Petition' by himself or some other sutable 
person (who has a Family) shall actually 
settle & reside with his Family on the Spot 
by y e first Day of October next & to dwell 
there for the Term of Twenty Years then 
next coming said person to be a man of good 
sober Conversation & such as the Justices of 
the Court of General Sessions of the peace 
for the County of Hampshire may think a 
proper person to keep a publick House of 
Entertainnr* & to be at all Times provided 
with necessaries fit for the Entertainiri of 
Man & Horse &c. & in Case of failure of 
any of the above particulars the s d Grant to 
revert to the Province, the person inhabiting 
on s d Land & keeping such publick House 
to be freed from paying excise for the 
Term of Ten Years from the first of his 

8 



PIXLEY'S TAVERN 

living there. [Passed December 7]" (1732). 

By summer or fall Lawton had his "publick 
House of Entertainment" in running order, 
though not yet of the proportions laid down 
in the terms of the General Court. The court 
of general sessions of that season, at North- 
ampton, bears record:* "Joseph Pixley Jun r 
Living on M r Chr Jacob Lawtons Land be- 
tween Westfield and Sheffield to be an Inn- 
holder Taverner & Common Victualler at s d 
Place is by this Court admitted and approved 
as a Suitable Person agreeable to the 
order of the Gen' Court Respecting the same." 

This hint of the location of Pixley 's tavern 
as "between Westfield and Sheffield" is 
grim witness to the loneliness of this little 
hearth-fire lighted in the midst of the vast 
wilderness. Glasgow was not yet, nor any 
other settlement from Westfield, nine miles 
from the Connecticut, westward to the Housa- 
tonic. An ancient tradition testifies f that 
"for several years it had no floor nor chim- 
ney. A fire was constantly kept upon the 
ground in the centre; logs eight and ten 
feet long were drawn in by a horse and rolled 

* Vol. 2, p. 253. 

t Historical Address, Blandford, Sept. 21, 18S0, by William H. Gibbs, p. 46 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

upon the log heap fire, the smoke passing 
out through a hole in the roof." This little 
snatch of what hospitality the pioneer hos- 
telry afforded the hardy traveller of the period 
is rescued from a too silent past, and the story 
lapses for the most part into the unknown. 
Five years later Pixley was still running the 
place and, Sept. 24, 1737, — two years after 
the village of Glasgow, four miles to the 
eastward, was fairly established, — he bought 
it of Lawton "for Divers Causes & Consider- 
ations (him) thereto moving." 

All trace of the old tavern was long years 
ago obliterated, as also of the fort, or block- 
house, which tradition — and tradition only — 
declares to have been put up thereabout 
during the wars with the French and Indians. 
But there is no manner of doubt about the 
general location of the farm, in the southwest 
part of the town.* Whatever prestige the 
tavern ever had was derived from the patron- 
age of wayfarers. There was little or no 
coloring of local importance there, albeit the 
first settled minister of the town laid hands 
upon it. Its career was checkered. Law- 

* In the original farm lots, numbered 11 and 12; in 1850 owned by Almon J. 
Lloyd; within memory of modern residents, by the late James S. 
Brooks, and now by N. C. Julien. 

10 



PIXLEY'S TAVERN 

ton's dealings with the Province were of the 
character of a shyster, and the General Court 
relieved him of his right to the tavern and 
farm, or whatever title he still held to it, 
Dec. 20, 1738. But through the intercession 
of David Ingersoll, of Westfield, the Legisla- 
ture, three days later, gave back his holding 
"Provided he or they* in the same way & 
manner comply with the conditions of the 
grant to all intents and purposes whatever 
within one year, and particularly that he 
build and finish a convenient Dwelling House 
to stand near the new Road at the North 
end of the granted premises, for the accom- 
modation of Travellers, of the dimensions 
expressed in the former grants. "f It ap- 
pears that this wayside inn was hobbling 
along with tardiness and difficulty. What 
use Rev. William McClenachan, who bought 
it in 17 44 J, could have made of it, unless 
to derive income from its rental, is hard to 
see. He not only possessed himself of the 
tavern and farm, but of the whole one 
thousand acres of the two farm lots in which 

* Heirs or assigns. 

t Chap. 20, p. 527, Acts and Resolves. One is tempted to put the query 

as to what became of travellers of dimensions other than those 

expressed in the Act. 
I Springfield Registry of Deeds, Vol. O, p. 729. 

11 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

the tavern farm was located. This reverend 
gentleman kept hold of the property after 
leaving for the wars, mortgaging it in 1750, 
several years after his successor was settled 
in town, to one Samuel Watts, three years 
later selling it to a Boston distiller, Zechariah 
Johonnot. The title became mixed. Watts, 
who got hold of the property again, found 
himself obliged to defend his claim by suit 
against one Joseph Clark, who also operated 
the tavern and farm for some years. There 
is court record of Clark's license in 1762 and 
'63. There is furthermore this interesting 
act of the Provincial Legislature, under date 
of June 15, 1762: "A Petition of Joseph 
Clark of Blanford — Setting forth That in 
the Year 1760 He purchased a licensed House 
and purchased a barrel of Rum, but being 
sick in August when he should have applied 
for a license, and his House lying in the Road 
used by Soldiers sold the same, out to them: 
and he boght the said Rum of a Retailer who 
had paid the Duties of excise thereon — 
Praying that he may be exempted from the 
Penalty of the Law — 

"(12th) In the House of Representatives 

12 



PIXLEY'S TAVERN 

Read and Ordered That the Prayer of the 
Petitioner be so far granted that the Petitioner 
be discharged from the Penalty for Selling 
strong liquors within mentioned so far as it 
belongs to this Province. 

"In Council Read and Nonconcurred." 

It appears that the bandying about of 
liquor bills from one house to the other, to 
be finally thrown out into the street, is an 
old trick of the Legislature. 

Clark's troubles were but beginning, for 
the next year he was destined to lose both 
farm and tavern to the aforesaid Samuel 
Watts of Chelsea, who claimed superior title, 
and won judgment to that effect from the 
court. Clark betook himself to Granville, 
where we take leave of him, since our quest 
is not of him, but of the old caravansary. 

The scattering items of intelligence thus 
gleaned from official records are evidence 
that this first tavern in Glasgow Lands was 
still running, and that, being on one of the 
great thoroughfares of the Commonwealth, 
it was a station of importance. In fact, the 
road, or bridle-path, was a continuation of 
the old Bay path. Armies, or detachments 

13 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

of them, passed through the centre of the 
town, and four miles beyond assuaged their 
burning thirst at Pixley's tavern. 

The road, or path, on which Pixley's stood, 
bulked large in the history and imagination 
of the people of the Province in the time of 
our story. The farm is described in one of 
the deeds as "on the Great Road leading to 
Housatunock." In the early town records 
this road is commonly denoted as "the Road 
to Tunak," or "the tunock road." In 1735 
— the year of the settlement of Glasgow — the 
path which had been opened past Pixley's 
was made a regular road, such as it was. It 
"divided the gift of land subsequently made 
by the Stockbridge Indians to the Govern- 
ment, and on the 15th day of January, in 
the year above mentioned, the General Court 
ordered that four townships should be laid 
out upon the road between Westfield and 
Sheffield, contiguous in position, and either 
joining Sheffield" or the Suffield Equivalent.* 
These towns were to be "Six miles square, to 
contain each sixty-three home-lots, laid out 
in compact and defensible form, one of 

* The History of Western Massachusetts, by J. G. Holland, Vol. I, p. 169. 

14 



PIXLEY'S TAVERN 

which was to be for the first settled minister, 
one for schools, and one for each grantee, 
which shall draw equal shares in all future 
divisions."* These townships were num- 
bered 1, 2, 3, and 4. No. 1 was Tyringham; 
No. 2, Partridgefield, now Peru, together 
with parts of Middlefield and Hinsdale; No. 
3, Sandisfield; and No. 4, Becket and Gage- 
borough, the latter now Windsor. "The 
present town of Great Barrington, formed of 
portions of both the upper and lower Housa- 
tonic townships, was settled as early as 1730, 
and in 1740 was established as the second 
parish of Sheffield, "f 

In an "Almanack" of date, 1766, 1 giving 
a. description of the various post routes of 
the country, is this itinerary: 
Road to Albany 
From Springfield to West- 
field, 7 
Bounds of ditto, 5 12 
Blanford, 8 20 
Green Woods, 12 32 
No. 1, 7 39 
Sheffield, 4 43 

* Id. 
t Id. 
X Probably Hutchin's, the title page is gone. 

15 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 



Sheffield Bounds, 


3 


46 


Noble-Town, 


11 


57 


Bounds of ditto, 


4 


61 


Stone-House, 


6 


67 


Kinderhook, 


10 


77 


Half- Way House, 


10 


87 


Albany, 


7 


94 



This service was by post rider. Stages 
were yet to be. Pixley's does not here ap- 
pear. The "Green Woods" was a tract 
lying immediately to the westward of Bland- 
ford, extending along its full western bound- 
ary from north to south. There is a modern 
survival of the name attaching to one of the 
later post roads to Albany a few miles to the 
north of this oldest post road. Possibly 
Pixley's was esteemed to be in the "Green 
Woods" in 1766. Perhaps it had ceased to 
be altogether. Certainly by 1771 its public 
character had gone from it. In that year it 
passed from the administrators of the estate 
of "the Hon"' Samuel Watts Esq."* to 
Jonathan Shepard, and the inn was no more. 

The old road crossed a part of the town 
little visited or known by most of its present 

* The pompous title affords large presumption, in the phraseology of the 
time, of the worthy gentleman's intimacy with the liquor traffic. 

16 



PIXLEY'S TAVERN 

dwellers, where other roads as well as this 
one are largely abandoned and grown up to 
forest or become pasture. Its houses are 
falling to ruins or already gone, with scarcely 
a discernible cellar or foundation remaining. 
Here and there a tenanted residence with- 
stands the march of decay, but only for a 
little, and seems to whisper to the infre- 
quent traveller, "Morituri, salutamus." There 
in the brush is still reposing a milestone of 
the old post route two or three miles beyond 
Pixley's, the distance to Albany being carved 
upon its face. A languishing postal star 
route, with difficulty finding a contractor 
when the business is periodically advertised 
for bids, cuts athwart the old road, as does 
the approved route of the automobile club 
on its runs between Springfield and Lenox, 
but avoiding, for the most part, the straighter 
and ruggeder road of the pioneers. 

We began with a pioneer in the vast wilder- 
ness. We have arrived at a chauffeur and 
his proprietor of wealth and ease, gliding 
over the country upon cushions of air. It 
is time we retraced our steps to the long 
Past. In the concerns of this least of all 

17 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

known taverns of Blandford, we have confront- 
ed Legislature and proprietor, minister and 
gentleman, adventurer and soldier. We have 
taken one glance at the crackling fire of great 
logs in the monstrous fireplace, and have seen 
a group of wayfarers encircled about it, the 
smoke pouring in clouds through the hole in the 
roof. We have found a barrel of rum and 
discovered a group of soldiers drinking; but 
those soldiers were also mixing with blood the 
mortar which was to hold together the great 
foundation stones of the nation. We have 
watched the bridle-path across one half the 
Commonwealth widen into a post road for carry- 
ing the messages of peace and the businesses of a 
great people. We have beheld this rude inn of 
a fleeting generation vanish away with the 
smoke of its own fires, and not so much as a 
square mound of turf left to mark its site to-day . 
But it was an institution without which the 
State could not well be. It should not be for- 
gotten. Other taverns of old Blandford there 
were of which we know vastly more. Even so 
this one has established its right to have been. 
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts took 
a building stone out of Pixley's tavern.* 

* V. Appendix III. 

18 



Chapter Two 

The Corner Tavern: 
The Hustons and Peases 

THE corner tavern was altogether unlike 
Pixley's in its origin and traditions. 
Like Pixley's, it faced the " 'Tunack 
Road," altogether to its advantage. But 
it was a village inn, within a stone's throw 
of meeting-house and school-house. It 
did not have to be legislated into existence, 
but sprang up indigenous to the soil, and did 
not melt away into forgetfulness as the years 
multiplied. The corner tavern grew with the 
town, helped to make the town grow, gathered 
within its cheerful precincts much of what 
was best in town life, became a deep and 
fruitful soil in which local traditions took 
root, nourished men of distinction, and made 
history for town, commonwealth and nation 
in the persons of men we know. With the 
possible exception of an obscure decade in 
the eighteenth century, the corner tavern 
was in active operation for nearly a century 
and three quarters.* 

* The Mountain house, which burned to the ground in the late fall of 1901, 
was the last survivor. It was an enlargement of the building erected 
by Orrin Sage, Esq. 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

At the very first the school-house inter- 
vened between the tavern and the corner of 
the town street.* But presently a short 
cut of a few rods was made, beginning be- 
tween school-house and tavern and joining 
the old street close by the meeting-house. 
In the New England town a tavern was 
always to be found near the meeting-house. 
Sometimes the conditions of the license re- 
quired that it should be so. Else where 
should town meetings adjourn to, or church- 
goers resort during noonings? No need to 
compel these Scotch- Irishmen to put up a 
public house of entertainment in the very 
heart of the community. They had sense 
and good taste enough to do it without being 
told to. "A little East of the Meeting 
House," it was, says one of the deeds. And 
it was there at least five years before the 
sanctuary, but let it not be thought that it 
preceded public worship and Christian service 
by a year or a day. 

When the Hopkinton men were negotiating 
with Lawton for home lots in what was to 
be the settlement of Glasgow, John and 

* Now known as North street, which then passed straight down between 
the pines to its southerly extension towards West Granville. 

20 



THE HUSTONS AND PEASES 

Robert Huston drew two lots adjoining each 
other. Robert's was just across the street 
from the meeting-house lot, or from that spot 
where the meeting-house was to be. John's 
lot happened to be just next north of Robert's. 
The first settlement was made in 1735. 
Robert took out an innholder's license in 
1736, and this was continued until 1740, 
when John was licensed, in which year the 
aforesaid John was also appointed by the 
court of general sessions of the peace at 
Northampton, "To take care of the Preserva- 
tion of Deer att Glascow." In the fifties 
William Huston carried on a license for a few 
years. Not improbably he was a younger 
brother of the other two Hustons. At any 
rate, he was one of "the boys" drawing a 
small lot away up at the extreme northern 
end of the line, where it is not to be supposed 
that he did his business. It is altogether 
easy to believe that the three Hustons pooled 
their interests more or less in their business 
as hospitalers, and all located at the corner 
tavern, John being ever the man of force. 
John and William both became officers in 
the French and Indian wars. The former 

21 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

was surveyor, land agent, man of the world 
and elder of the church. He surveyed and 
laid out the towns of Housatunnock and 
Pontusuck, the latter name ultimately giving 
way to that of Pittsfield, the shire town of 
Berkshire county. He had large share with 
Roger Newbury in laying out the town of 
Glasgow, and it might be hard to specify in 
what large land grant of his time in western 
Massachusetts he did not have a part. 

This primeval institution, the corner tavern, 
in the front rank before all others, proceeded 
early to perform its traditional functions. 
The records, if scanty, are at least specific. 
When the Rev. James Morton's ordination 
was under consideration, after some backing 
and filling it was decided that the council 
having the important business in charge 
should be entertained at the candidate's 
house. That clerical gentleman was . abun- 
dantly versatile, quite too much so, some- 
times, to please the more punctilious of his 
flock, and on this initial occasion he put in a 
bid for the business of entertainer as a not 
unprofitable incident in the quite too scanty 
ministerial budget. Nevertheless, when all 

22 



THE HUSTONS AND PEASES 

the bills came to be settled, quite an account 
was presented by the proprietor of the 
corner tavern. Sept. 29, 1749, "Voted 
Granted to mr Huston Eighteen Shillings 
old tenor for keeping of men and horses at 
the ordenation." Other grants were made 
to individuals, but the articles paid for are 
not specified. There is sufficient definite- 
ness, however, with respect to a council 
which convened a few years later, and its 
dependence upon the distinguished land- 
lords of the village.* "Voted, to give Mr. 
Root 6 pence lawful money for Each Meal 
of Vittles each member of the council shall eat 
in the time that they shall Seat Hear on our 
Business, and also 18 pence old tenor per 
Night for each Member of the Council's 
lodging, and that the town pay Mr. Root 
for the strong Drink that the Council drink 
while they are Hear on our Business, saving 
Syder at their Vittles," which appears to 
have been a part of the regular menu. He wit 
Root had entered upon the succession as 
proprietor of the corner tavern. 

* The citation is made from Mr. Gibbs's address, p. 49, as long years ago 
some vandal cut out the leaf in the town records containing the 
minute. 

23 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

Some months later in the same year it 
was "Voted, That the town shall pay to Dea. 
Israel Gibbs and Samuel Carnahan the first 
Cost for the Rum and sugar the Council shall 
Need while they Seat Hear." This council 
first met in February, then adjourned to the 
June following. Hence the two appropria- 
tions. Their minds were not so overcome 
by "strong Drink" nor were their judgments 
so warped by abundant hospitality but that 
they sat soberly in judgment upon pastor 
and people, soundly admonishing both for 
their errors. In 1766, at another and later 
council, "Landlord Reece," proprietor of 
the same house, was granted one pound for 
"Each minister and Delegit," not specifying 
the fare. This was for the council which 
ended the stormy pastorate of Mr. Morton. 

Meantime, during all these years, this 
house of entertainment had been having its 
full share, with other similar resorts, of the 
patronage of the citizens on town meeting 
days. "Adjourned to mr. Hustons" is the 
laconic expression which hints of agreeable 
refuge for voting citizens from the chilly 
winds of March or the parching thirst of 

24 




Congregational Meeting-House 




"Albany Road," looking up to School-House 



THE HUSTONS AND PEASES 

August. Says Edward Field,* "There is 
no more picturesque character in early 
Colonial life than the individual who presided 
over the tavern. He was a prominent per- 
sonage in the management of town affairs, 
was thoroughly informed on all public matters 
and private matters as well; he enjoyed the 
confidence of all who gathered around his 
fireside, and he always held public office. 
Indeed, to hold public office was the preroga- 
tive of the tavern keeper. His house was the 
rendezvous for all townspeople, and all 
matters of news sooner or later, generally 
sooner, were discussed around his blazing 
fire in winter or where the breezes blew 
coolest around his place in summer." The 
Blandford innkeeper was no exception to this 
rule. The Hustons were prominent men, 
Robert and William both serving as selectmen. 
John was absent too much on his various 
businesses to hold office in the town. 

Thus the corner tavern took root securely. 
But it grew slowly. Twenty years after 
Robert Huston kindled his hospitable fires 
at this old inn, the first rude dwelling had 

* The Colonial Tavern. 

25 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

been replaced by a more pretentious building 
known in the conventional phraseology 
of the time as a "Mansion House." By this 
was meant, first that it was a frame structure 
as distinguished from the first log house of 
the Hustons, and secondly, that probably 
it was somewhat larger than the generality 
of houses.* Even so, and in spite of the 
fact that other little taverns had sprung up 
in or near Blandford village, in periods of war 
the capacity of the house was far over- 
taxed. A document of the day (1757) bears 
witness to the passing of soldiers along the 
road by "hundreds," so that "it was im- 
possible for the Tavern to accommodate" 
them. The minister's house was therefore 
thrown open, again sadly to the scandal of 
that ecclesiastic's fastidious flock. Before 
ever Pixley's was reached on the westward 
march, the corner tavern invited the way- 
farer. Throngs of travellers passed it — and 

* The deed referring to it is recorded in Vol. X, p. 746, Elisha Parks being 
grantor and Hewet Root grantee. It is described thus in detail : 
"a little East of the Meeting House where the sd Root now Dwells 
where Robert Huston lately Dwelt being the Settling or House- 
lotts in sd Township known by lotts No. 43-44 45 adjoining Each 
other, Bounded Northwesterly on Robert Henrys lott and South 
Easterly on John Boyses lott, Northerly on the Second Division 
lotts, Southerly by the Highway or Common Partly and Partly by 
the land of Rev. Mr. James Morton with a Mansion House and a Barn 
Standing thereon Containing one Hundred Eighty acres be the 
Same more or less." 

26 



THE HUSTONS'^AND PEASES 

patronized it — regiments and cavalcades, 
caravans of emigrants, post-men and the 
local stream of life. 

No trace of any tavern log book of this 
early generation has survived to satisfy the 
curiosity which eagerly asks for more. The 
best that can be done is to cite here and there 
a fragmentary note from the town records 
or some fugitive document. In 1759 ex- 
tensive improvements were going on at the 
meeting-house, where "mr Kattlen" was 
engaged as a skilled workman from abroad. 
He was boarded at several places, one of 
them being the house of "mr pees." This 
was Nathaniel Pease, recently succeeded to 
the business at the corner. He received 
"five shillings per week for Belleten mr 
Kattlen four weeks." The Peases, first and 
last, were a numerous and influential clan, 
and hailed from Connecticut. What prestige 
Nathaniel had already become possessed of 
when he sat himself within the hospitable 
mansion at the corner may be indicated in 
the fact that that very year he was named 
by the town as first of a committee to "Lay 

27 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

out the pew pate* to Each person according 
to the List." He served the town as a 
selectman and town meeting moderator. 
The inn on the corner was gathering dignity. 
Next came Levi Pease, a native of Enfield, 
Conn., in 1739 or '40. Levi was a black- 
smith, and was by no means the only man 
of that honorable trade who passed on to the 
place of landlord. Something about the 
publicity of the smithy was inviting to the 
more aristocratic and cosmopolitan occu- 
pation. Levi Pease made a local name for 
himself in the Scotch-Irish town of Pelham, 
then came to Blandford. He was a typical 
Boniface of the old style. Utterly forgotten 
by his Blandford townsmen of the present 
generation — melancholy testimony to the ease 
with which a community consigns to oblivion 
what should be among its choicest memories 
— he rises up out of the past to greet us from 
the pages of colonial history as one famous 
among the pioneers of civic progress in New 
England. From 1770 to 1776 he was owner 
of the corner tavern, whence he went to 

* A clerical error for "rate." The other men on this committee were John 
Knox, also an innkeeper, John Hamilton, William Boies, and David 
McConoughey. 

28 



THE HUSTONS AND PEASES 

establish himself in Shrewsbury, Conn. It 
was in Shrewsbury, in the tavern to which 
Levi Pease was to succeed after leaving 
Blandford, and while that young man was 
getting together his ideas of the public busi- 
ness in this lively village, that John Adams 
heard the stirring dialogue over the Stamp 
Act. "If Parliament can take away Mr. 
Hancock's wharf and Mr. Rowe's wharf, they 
can take away your barn and my house." 
Mary Caroline Crawford* quotes this same 
statesman and writer as saying concerning 
"Landlord Pease" at that time, that he "was 
the great man of the town; their represen- 
tative &c as well as tavern-keeper, just re- 
turned from the General Assembly at Hart- 
ford." The date is a little confusing. He 
was owner of the Blandford establishment at 
that time. In the ledger of Col. Sloper, who 
was carrying on a miscellaneous establish- 
ment of farm, store, tavern and what-not a 
quarter of a mile above, on the town street, 
there is a family account against Levi Pease: 
To 1 accompt Book 5-6 5 6 

To 1 lb Brimstone 9d 9 

* In Little Pilgrimages Among Old New England Inns, p. 209. 

29 






3 


3 








6 





1 


3 





3 


6 





1 


6 





6 


2 





2 


8 


2 


8 





1 


2 


3 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

To 1 red Spoted Hanker 

To 1 lb Mapel Sugar 

To 1 Slait pensel 

To 1-4 lb indego 3-6 

To 1 Box & Sope 

To 1-8 yd Callico at 5-6 

To 1 Set of tea Dishes 2-8 

To 12 galons of rum at 4- 

To 1-8 yd Carlet Broad Cloth 

J. H. Temple* tells this story of the man 
whose early movements have seemed so 
obscure, and whose later enterprise was so 
conspicuous. "He was in the public service 
during the whole of the war, in the commissary 
department! and as the bearer of important 
despatches. When Gen. Thomas was on the 
northern frontier, he often passed to and fro 
between him and headquarters; and was 
present with him when he died of smallpox. 
He was strong, courageous and wary. He 
used to tell how to avoid capture when 
carrying orders ; he crossed the lake in a small 
boat, and alone, rather than travel by the 
usual routes ; lying concealed in the day time, 

* In his History of Pelham. 

t To which his tavern experience immediately preceding in Blandford 
undoubtedly prepared him. 

30 



THE HUSTONS AND PEASES 

and pushing ahead at night. When the 
moon shone bright, he would pull out from 
shore, and stretching himself at length, would 
work the boat with his hands as paddles. 
He always got his despatches through safely. 
Commissary Wadsworth always trusted him 
with a saddle-bag full of money with which 
to purchase cattle and horses, taking no 
receipt therefor." Pease became a courage- 
ous adventurer in the business of serving the 
traveling public, having the prophetic vision 
of a true statesman. At the close of the 
Revolution he established a line of stages be- 
tween Hartford and Boston. He ran empty 
wagons back and forth repeatedly before 
the people awoke to their privilege. But 
Pease was awake before them, and knew 
that the people would follow. He was the 
animating spirit of the first Massachusetts 
turnpike, which connected Boston and 
Worcester.* He was made poor by these 
several enterprises, but New England was 
made rich. Levi Pease died in 1824. 

The Peases were numerous, and were 

* There is an interesting chapter on Levi Pease, "The Father of the Turn- 
pike and Some Related Taverns," in "Little Pilgrimages Among 
Old New England Inns," before referred to. 

31 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

addicted to innkeeping. In the vicissitudes 
of the business the farm and the tavern lot, 
or homestead, became differentiated, the one 
from the other. The latter was of thirty 
acres, or twenty-eight, as sometimes esti- 
mated, divided into two equal parts by the 
road. The tavern itself was on the north 
or east side. Two large barns were on the 
opposite side abutting upon the "Burying 
Yard," Rev. James Morton's home lot and 
Judah Bement's, the blacksmith. The 
northeasterly lot was sixty rods front by 
forty in depth. The estate is furthermore 
described in 1776 as bounded on the west by 
"the Training Field," the same being a part 
of the ten-acre lot, or common. There was 
also "a Store House Standing between s d 
House and barn."* 

Robert Pease came from Somers, Conn., 
to carry on the succession. From him the 

* Deeds, Vol. 8, pp. 273 and 338, Vol. 10, p. 128, Vol. 13, p. 755. Robert 
Huston and his successors in business down to and including Na- 
thaniel Pease, owned the home lots in the first division numbered 
43, 44, and 45. The northern boundary of this combined plot is 
at_ or very near the present southern boundary of the agricultural 
fair grounds, and below the school-house it extends on both sides 
of the present village street — the old Sheffield, or 'Tunock.road — 
to about the point where the Methodist Episcopal church stands. 
It included land on both sides of the present Russell road to the 
western boundary of the second division, near the H insdale house. 
All but fifty acres of this farm passed from Nathaniel to his son 
Levi, who in turn sold it to Robert Pease in the year of the country's 
Independence. 

32 



THE HUSTONS AND PEASES 

farm passed to his two sons, Abner and 
Alphaeus, but the tavern lot of twenty-eight 
acres was bought of Robert Pease, April 3, 
1779, by Justus Ashmun, for the sum of 
twelve hundred pounds in the currency of 
the day. Testimony is borne to the hold 
which the Peases had got upon the place and 
its reputation, by the descriptive clause in 
the deed of sale, "being well known by the 
name of Pease's Tavern." The "store 
House" is again particularly named in the 
instrument of conveyance.* For the present 
the Peases pass out of view, to appear again 
in a rival stand just north of the meeting- 
house. In passing over to Justus Ashmun, 
the corner tavern was assured of increase to 
its local prestige and an honorable part in 
giving to the State some of its finest souls. 

* Vol. 16, p. 358. 



33 



Chapter Three 

The Corner Tavern: 

The Ashmuns and their 

Successors. * 

IN the year 1777, the residents of a little 
village on the Hudson, forty or forty-five 
miles above Albany, were compelled by 
the approach of the British army under 
Burgoyne, to seek other homes. One of these 
refugees was Justus Ashmun, who fled with 
his family, but was obliged to leave nearly 
all his property behind him.f He estab- 
lished himself in Blandford, where he suc- 
ceeded Levi Pease as proprietor of the corner 
tavern some months before he became its 
owner. That prince among editors, Samuel 
Bowles, on occasion of the death of George 
Ashmun, grandson of Justus, wrote in the 
Springfield Republican, speaking of Bland- 
ford as "that olden glory of our mountain 

* For many of the facts given in this chapter concerning the Ashmuns 
I am indebted to the kindness of Mrs. Elizabeth H. Morton, who 
gave me access to several newspaper articles referred to in sub- 
sequent pages. Mrs. Morton is a daughter of the late Hon. George 
Ashmun. 

t From an article in the Hampshire Gazette, 1819. 



THE ASHMUNS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS 

towns," and remarked thus concerning Justus 
Ashmun: He "kept the tavern there, in 
the days when all the travel between the 
East and the West stopped there to change 
horses and to breakfast or dine, in the days 
when tavern-keeping was the privilege of the 
first citizen, and when the tavern-keeper had 
the confidence, not only of all the citizens 
of his village, but of all the great men who 
went back and forth from under his roof. 
Judge Sedgwick of Berkshire found a familiar 
and congenial home in this mountain tavern, 
and there found Eli P. Ashmun, a bright 
and promising lad, whom he encouraged to 
study the profession of the law." Eli was 
born in New York State and was a small 
child when the family came to Massachusetts. 
What the fellow citizens of the new landlord 
of the corner tavern thought of him may 
be inferred from what they gave him to do. 
He served several terms as selectman, and was 
moderator of town meetings repeatedly. No 
sooner had he come to town than his fellow 
townsmen put him on the Committee of In- 
spection and Safety, in which responsible posi- 
tion he acted during three successive years. 

35 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

He was placed on a committee to supply the 
pulpit in 1782, and on that same committee 
were these other public landlords: Dea. 
William Boies, Dea. Samuel Boies and Brig- 
adier General Warham Parks. In that same 
year, when the town voted to "seat the 
Meeting house according to Age, Pay and 
Dignity," the landlord of the corner tavern 
was made chairman of the committee to 
"estimate the Pews," along with Capt. 
William Knox and Deacon Samuel Boies. 
Ten years later Mr. Ashmun was one of a 
much larger committee to seat the meeting 
house, and again on that committee was 
gathered a notable company of men who 
kept public houses: Col. Samuel Sloper, 
Dea. Samuel Boies, Jedediah Smith and 
Ensign Timothy Hatch* — a majority of the 
committee. He was justice of the peace, 
and, one year (1793) in his occupancy of that 
honorable position, was chosen "Saxton and 
to Take Care of the Meeting House by Keep- 
ing it Clean & Securing the Doors." In 1779 
he was selected as the town's responsible 
representative at the Concord convention 

* If not that year running a public house, at least for many years before 
and after. 

36 




The Hon. George Ashmun 



THE ASHMUNS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS 

for the regulation of the depreciated and 
demoralized currency, and received ^"60 
remuneration in the aforesaid currency for 
his eight days' absence. 

If there was an auction — "vandue"* they 
called it — it was located at the tavern, always. 
October 5, 1786, the town "Granted Justus 
Ashmun ten Shillings for Liquer Spent on 
the Towns Vandue of a bridge and arbitra- 
tion." It was the bridge over what is now 
known as Peebles' brook, and there had been 
disagreement over it. Again the next year 
Mr. Ashmun was on a similar bridge business 
"Near Frary's Mills" f with Samuel Sloper 
and Jonathan Frary. When at last thous- 
ands of acres of the unimproved lands of 
the town, still held by the original proprietors 
or their heirs, were condemned when no one 
appeared to pay the taxes on them, in 1782 
Justus Ashmun with Gen. Warham Parks 
and David McConoughey was made a com- 
mittee to assist the collectors in their sales, 
the land so purchased to be the property of 
the town if no other bidder should appear. 

* Vendue. 

t More recently known as Peebles' mill. 

37 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

Thousands of acres were so disposed of at 
public sale in the tap-rooms of the taverns. 

More than to any other, town meetings 
adjourned to Mr. Ashmun's. "Voted* to 
Adjourn the meeting to Landd Ashmuns;" 
"Voted f to adjourn the meeting to Mr. 
Ashmuns to meet forthwith — met according 
to adjournment." It was warm there, and 
congenial — especially after the glasses had 
been drained. 

When Rev. Joseph Badger was ordained 
to the gospel ministry in the old church, the 
perquisites were as fairly distributed as 
possible among the near-by innholders. 
Abner Pease, just above the meeting-house, 
was granted "four pound Seventeen Shilling 
& Sex pence for Entertaining the Ordaining 
Counsel by order;" Justus Ashmun was 
granted "one pound four Shillings for wine for 
the Counsel;" Russel Attwater, a little lower 
down the street, "Twenty four Shillings for 
Rum for the Counsel and Suger."J Finally, 
when the Louden disaffection {J had reached 

* Jan. 27, 1780. 

t Oct. 9, 1873. 

t Dec. 3, 1787. 

jJThe persistent attempt, covering many years, on the part of the people 

living in the western part of the town, "to be set off to Louden," 

now Otis. 

38 



THE ASHMUNS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS 

the stage of legislative investigation, a com- 
mittee made up largely of taverners was 
chosen to meet the legislative committee. 
This local body was composed of Dea. Samuel 
Boies, Justus Ashmun, Esq., Reuben Boies, 
Collector, Samuel Sloper and Capt. William 
Knox. There was but one layman among 
them, — if one is not too insistent upon the 
particular year of the license. 

There is entry of 1779, "Granted to Justus 
Ashmun £2 — 15 for entertaining Sick Soldiers 
five Days at his house." In peace or war, 
whether with arms or arguments, the corner 
tavern was equally in evidence and equally 
useful. 

The innholders of these old days did not 
entertain strangers and sell them cider and 
rum and flip because they could do nothing 
else. They were farmers to a man. The 
whole air of the time savored of simplicity, 
virility and ruggedness. There was no ser- 
vility in the atmosphere of the tavern, but 
homely hospitality at once hearty and in- 
dependent. It partook of the life of the 
community, for the residents were dropping 
in all the time. One must believe that 

39 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

somewhat of Sabbath restraint hung about 
the place on that austere day. But that 
tongues were not let loose then and there 
who may believe? A tap-room and a blaz- 
ing fire in winter, or the benches and chairs 
on the veranda in the breezes of summer, 
were sufficient invitation for that. Work 
was hard enough when they worked, which 
was most of the time, but for home-born 
and stranger alike the tavern was a common 
meeting ground. It is a long way back from 
the present, and fortunate are we that 
imagination is not our only guide. 

President Timothy Dwight, of Yale College, 
forced by ill health to travel, chose his own 
New England as his first theatre of exploita- 
tion, and as his inevitable assistants, the stage- 
coach and tavern. He began his tours in 
1796. He was at that time no youth, and 
his opportunity for retrospect into the gen- 
eration immediately preceding was of the 
best. In his "Travels in New England and 
New York," he gives discriminating and 
interesting glimpses into the tavern of his 
day and of the days of his fathers. Some- 
thing of the atmosphere of the corner tavern 

40 



THE ASHMUNS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS 

in Blandford can thus be learned at first 
hand. 

"Our ancestors," he says, "considered an 
inn as a place where travellers must trust 
themselves, their horses, baggage and money; 
where women as well as men at times lodge, 
might need humane and delicate offices, and 
might be subjected to disagreeable exposures. 
To provide for safety and comfort, and 
against danger and mischief, in all these 
cases, they took particular pains in their 
laws and administrations, to prevent inns 
from being kept by vicious, unprincipled, 
worthless men. Every Innkeeper in Con- 
necticut must be recommended by the Select- 
men, and Civil Authority, Constables and 
Grand Jury of the town in which he resides; 
and then licensed at the discretion of the 
Court of Common Pleas. Substantially in 
the same manner is the business regulated 
in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. In 
consequence of this system, men of no small 
personal respectability have ever kept Inns 

in this country A great part of 

the New England Innkeepers, however, and 
their families, treat a decent stranger who 

41 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

behaves civilly to them in such a manner 
as to show to him that they feel an interest 
in his happiness ; and, if he is sick or unhappy, 
will cheerfully contribute everything in their 
power to his relief." 

This distinguished educator devoted a few 
pages to the story of the Scotch- Irish towns 
in western Massachusetts, including Bland- 
ford. He said of them, "During a short 
period these people exhibited that variety 
of opinions and manners which they brought 
with them; but for many years they have 
worn the common, sober, orderly character, 
which has ever prevailed in the Valley.* 
No County in the State has uniformly so firm 
an adherence to order and good government, 
or a higher regard to learning, morals and 
religion." 

Reverting again to the subject of the old 
New England tavern, the same writer pro- 
ceeds: "The best old-fashioned New Eng- 
land inns were superior to any of the modern 
ones which I have seen. They were at less 
pains to furnish a great variety of food. Yet 
the variety was simple. The food was always 

* i. e., of the Connecticut. 

42 



THE ASHMUNS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS 

of the best quality; the beds were excellent; 
the house and all its appendages were in the 
highest degree clean and neat; the cookery 
was remarkably good; and the stable was 
not less hospitable than the house. The 
family in the meantime were possessed of 
principle, and received you with the kind- 
ness and attention of friends. Your baggage 
was as safe as in your own house. If you 
were sick, you were nursed and befriended 
as in your own family. No tavern-haunters, 
gamblers or loungers were admitted, any 
more than in a well ordered private habita- 
tion; and as little noise was allowed. 

"There was less bustle, less parade, less 
appearance of doing much to gratify your 
wishes, than at the reputable modern inns; 
but much more actually done, and much 
more comfort and enjoyment. In a word, you 
found in these inns the pleasures of an ex- 
cellent private house. To finish the story, 
your bills were always equitable, calculated 
on what you ought to pay, and not upon the 
scheme of getting the most which extortion 
might think proper to demand."* 

* Pp. 261-2. 

43 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

In this connection a paragraph from Mrs. 
Alice Morse Earle's "Customs and Fashions in 
Old New England" will not be out of place. 

"The traveler did not carry his meals from 
home because the tavern fare was expensive; 
at the inn where he paid ten cents for his 
lodging he was uniformly charged but twenty- 
five cents for a regular meal; but it was not 
the fashion to purchase meals at the tavern; 
the host made his profits from the liquor he 
sold and from the sleeping-room he gave. 
Sometimes the latter was simple enough. 
A great fire was built in the fireplace of 
either front room — the bar-room and parlor 
— and round it, in a semi-circle, feet to the 
fire and heads on their rolled up buffalo 
robes, slept the tired travelers. A few syba- 
ritic and rheumatic tillers of the soil paid 
for half a bed in one of the double-bedded 
rooms which all taverns then contained, and 
got a full bed's worth, in deep hollows and 
high billows of live-geese feathers, warm 
homespun blankets and patch-work quilts." 

It was not all quite so sober, however, as 
President Dwight thought, nor was it always 
the fact that a man got a whole bed for half 

44 



THE ASHMUNS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS 

pay. It was quite the custom to fill both 
beds when necessary, as sometimes it was, 
and a man was thought nothing less than a 
curmudgeon who made any objection to the 
landlord waking him up an hour or two after 
he had gone to bed, leading by candle another 
man, a stranger, to finish out the night with 
him. 

As Blandford increased in prosperity and 
came to consciousness of power in the years 
succeeding the Revolution, her sons began 
to go to college or to set their faces toward 
the vast and inviting West. If college were 
not practicable, resort was had to the best 
which the community could afford — and it 
was much — in the way of private teaching 
which should supplement the public educa- 
tion. Private libraries in the homes of the 
people were scanty indeed. When an estate 
was inventoried, there was usually listed a 
Bible or two, perhaps a psalm-book, occa- 
sionally a prayer-book, and not infrequently 
a few "old books" of not sufficient value and 
number to specify further. Justus Ashmun 
was an exception to the rule. He had a 
library whose inventory was as follows : 

45 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 



1 Set Spectator 8 Vols. 




$2.50 


1 Great Bible 




4.00 


1 Thompsons Seasons 




.75 


1 Salmons Universal Gazetteer 


.50 


1 Dorhams phypeotheology* 


.75 


1 Pomfrets Poems 




.25 


1 Yoricks Sermons 




.33 


1 Romains Do. 




.25 


1 Salmons Dictionary 




1.00 


1 Sky Lark 




.25 


1 Harveys Meditations 




.33 


2 psalm books 




.34 


1 Art of Speaking 




.33 


Of these books, five, 


namely, 


Thomson's 



Seasons, Art of Speaking, Harvey's Media- 
tions, Pomfret's Poems and the Sky Lark 
were all advertised in Thomas's Old Farmer's 
Almanack of the day, books published and 
sold by the remarkable compiler of that 
important little annual, which, it may safely 
be inferred, was a regular comer to the corner 
tavern. The little library is an unusual one 
for its day in Blandford, and the inventory 
stands as witness to the literary taste and large 
outlook on life of the landlord at the old stand. 

* What this really was who knows? Nothing else can seem to be made 
out of this item. 

46 



THE ASHMUNS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS 

It is a curious fact that the only other 
detailed list of books of domestic libraries 
which I have discovered in the town's early 
history, with the exception of one which 
served to feed the young mind of Rev. 
Daniel Butler in the old home on Beech hill, 
belonged to a man who also had a license to 
sell liquor, though it was a retailer's, not 
an innholder's, license. This was the library 
of James Wallace, whose house was some- 
where in the vicinity of Birch meadow brook, 
at the westerly foot of Birch hill. He was 
a "hosier" or stocking-maker by trade, and 
appears to have been a man of considerable 
activity and some influence, though little 
is now known of him. His connection with 
our present story of Justus Ashmun is 
peculiarly interesting, not only as illustrating 
the kind of books which used to regale 
thoughtful readers in New England country 
towns, but from the further fact that Justus 
Ashmun 's literary collection was partly 
gathered from this very library of James 
Wallace, as the administration papers of 
Jedediah Smith, Esq., another chief func- 
tionary of the town and keeper of a public 

47 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

house, bear witness. This library of Wal- 
lace's was sold and scattered all over town, 
Justus Ashmun being not the least of the 
purchasers. The date is 1795, and the 
library, as inventoried, together with notes 
of purchasers, etc., is thus listed: 
One Book Seamans Compass 
" Young man Companion (L* John Wat- 
son) 0-1-3 
monthly maczean (Wm. Thompson) 0-0-2 
" Pamphlet (Asa Merit) 0-0-2 
" By Dct Whelock 

Book medical experiments (Sol. Noble) 0-0-6 
" the mercial* Law (Sol. Noble) 0-0-2 

" Old Prair Book (Wm. Thompson) 0-0-2 

" the Mirror 

" pamphlet (sold to Sol. Noble) 0-0-2 

" Wm. Thompson) 0-0-2 

"M r Atkins) 0-0-1 

" " Osborn) 0-0-1 

" dissertation on the govtf (Asa Merit) 0-0-3 % 

(Wm. W Gomery) 0-0-1 

" Do Common Sence (Sol. Noble) 0-0-2 

old Blank occont Book (Wm. Knox) 4-6 

Book called the Builders Guid ( Wm. Knox) 1 

" Geographical Gromer (Elijah 

Knox) 2-6 

" English Dictionary 2-6 

* I. e., martial. 
t Or, gout? 

48 



THE ASHMUNS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS 

Sold to Esq. Ashmun Old Books to the 
Amount of five Shilling & Nin 
Pence 5-9 

Sold to Wm. Thompson, old Books 3 

one Salmons Family Dictionary 3 

Universal Gazetteer 4 

Book Called New Devotion 1-6 

Dto the Loyalty of Presbyterians 5 

' ' Obedience to the Laws of the Gosple 6 
troubles of David 1-3 

Bible 1-6 

the Mareners Callender 1 

Military Instructions 1-6 

the trety of Replevin 1-4 

Popes Essay on man 4 

" D Small Pamphlet 2 

Small Dto on St Patrick 4 

Old Waggoner 2 

Narrative on the Proceedings of Govern- 
ment of New York 1 
Book on religion By Dr Dowman 6 
Arnicas appeal a Pamphlet 5 
Dto the Cooks Guide 4 
Irish Rebellion 1-6 

Justus Ashman bought "Old Books to the 
Amount of thre Sillings ' ' * 

It is altogether a remarkably interesting 
list, and will bear study in the light of the 

* The above items are gathered from several lists, but otherwise are un- 
changed from the original documents. 

49 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

times in which it appeared. Justus Ash- 
mun's library was materially increased by 
his modest investments from the estate of 
his contemporary. 

This country innkeeper and squire did 
not live to witness the brilliant careers of 
his son and grandsons. He died in 1799. 
That not easy conditions and splendid ap- 
pointments, but character, stamped the man 
for what he was, testimony additional to the 
simple narrative already told follows here- 
with in the modest inventory of Justus 
Ashmun's estate: 
1 Chest with Drawers 
1 Desk " book Case 
1 Large Clock & Cace 
10 Dining Chairs at 75 cts each 
14 Armed Do at $1 Each 
1 old Do 
1 Rocking Do 
1 Looking Glass 

1 pair hand irons with Brass heads 
1 do hand Bellows 
1 Small Slice & tongs 
1 Small steel yards 
1 Long Maple Table 
1 Dining Cherry Do 
1 Kitchen pine Table 

50 



THE ASHMUNS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS 

1 Long Cherry D° with leaves 

1 d° pine D° with D° 

1 Dining Cherry D° broken 

1 large Stand do $0.50 & one Small D° 0.25 

1 pair of large hand irons $2.50 & 1 Slice & tongs 

large 1.25 
11 Kitchen Chairs at 25c each 

2 Trammels $1. 1 Small Shovel 25 c 
1 Large pot $1. 1 D° $1. 1 do 25c 

1 D° Kettle $1. 1 dish Kettle 75c 
1 Skillet 17c 2 small kettles $1 
1 Frying pan 50c 2 Spiders $1 
1 Gridiron 25c 1 toasting D° 14 c 
9 l / 2 lb old brass $2 5 Sad irons 1.3 7 
1 large brass kettle $7 1 Saw 75c 

3 Sickles 42 c 1 Garden Rake 10 c 

3 Tin Candlesticks 17c 2 Meal Sieves 67 c 

3 Brass Candlesticks $3 3 d° old 2.25 

iy 2 doz. Earthen Table plates 1.25 1 doz difrt 0.37 

1 oval Earthen dish 2$ c half doz glasses 75c 

1 Salver 25c 2 doz Colored cups & saucers 66 
1 Sugar bowl 17c 1 Blk teapot \l c 1 pi Salts 17 c 
1 Qt decanter 30 1 pt do 20 1 Cruit 8 
28 Glass bottles 2.33 12 old Silver $12 1 pr 
Snuffers & Tray 50 

4 tin Cannisters 50 1 pepper Mill 33 

1 pr money Scales, box & weights 75 6 pewter 

platters $2 
6 lb old pewter 33 3 tin milk pans 75 1 Tin Can $3 

2 large spinning Wheels $1 1 Small DM.50 

51 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

1 Clock Reel 25 1 hetchel 75 
1 Seal Trunkal 

1 Bed with Wait Ticking Bedding & bed stead $10 

1 D° plain D° D° 10 

1 Do wait " 14 

1 " 9 

1 " " old 6 

1 4 

1 4 

1 4 

I D° do without Bolsters & Bedstead 3 

I I old hog heads at 1 Each 

1 Warming pan 2.50 200 wt old iron 6.66 

1 Gun $5 1 do large $3 1 do & bayonet $5 

1 Camblet Cloak $1.50 1 Great Coat $3 

1 Straight bodied Coat $3 

1 Surtout 

1 Ox Cart with Clavis & pin $12 1 ox yoke 75 

1 Ox plough 1.75 1 horse do 1.00 

25 tons of hay $125 

1 broad ax $1. 1 crowbar 1.50 

1 hoe 50 3 Chains $3. 3 narrow axes $2. 

1 Mans saddle $3. 1 Womans $6 1 bridle 50 

2 bags $1. 10 Towels at 25 each 7 Table Spreads 
(The library, as given above) 

1 Yoke Oxen $50 
4 Cows at $11 

2 2 year old Stears at 9 
2 do Heiffers at 9 

20 Sheep at 1.25 

52 



THE ASHMUNS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS 

1 old horse 1 7 

1 " gray Mare 18; 

1 4-year old Rone do 50. 

1 3 year old Colt 35 

1 2 years old Do 25. 

1 Swine 10. 

55 Bushels of Corn in the Ear 21.83 

60 Barrels Cider 50. 

Farm of Land on which the buildings Stand 
estimated to contain 200 acres with all 
the buildings thereon 3700 

40 acres of Land lying in N° 5 & 6 in the 
first Division of Settling Lots in Blan- 
ford 1 60 . 00 

126 acres of Land lying in No 9 in Sd 

Blanford 370 

25 acres of D° in No. 27 in D° 75 



5119.60 



Eli P. Ashmun [ Adm r 
Russell Atwater J 

Justus Ashmun tilled the soil; his hands 
were horny with labor; his hospitality was 
abundant, not ostentatious. As for liquid 
stock, it is to be noted, there was no rum, 
no brandy, no paraphernalia for hard and 
general drinking except the beverage which 
was universally served "with their Vittles" 
in the farmers' homes of the day. 

53 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

In this tavern home was trained Eli P., 
son of Justus and Keziah Ashmun. There 
were other children, one of whom, tradition 
says, was born in the wilderness, during the 
flight to Blandford. The public schools, 
at the time of Eli's boyhood, "were in feeble 
and embarrassed condition, and classical 
schools between these and college did not 
exist, or were so few and far between as not 
to be generally accessible, — and even the 
colleges, some of them, were broken up, 
suspended, or greatly crippled in their Jmeans 
of usefulness."* So it came to passjthat, 
"till the age of 19, Mr. Ashmun remained, 
employed in various domestic labours, and 
particularly in attendance on the tavern. 
Till this time he had received little more 
education than could be derived from a 
desultory attendance in the winter on the 
village school, and the occasional gleanings 
of a leisure hour. His father was a man of 
strong and well informed mind and liberal 
manners, but was so engrossed by his various 
employments as to be precluded from paying 
any great degree of attention to the education 

* From an anonymous tribute to Eli P. Ashmun, by a pupil in his office, 
and published in the Hampshire Gazette, after Mr. Ashmun's death. 

54 



THE ASHMUNS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS 

of his children."* When he was a lad, he 
studied for a time with a clergyman of a 
neighboring town, then entered the office of 
Judge Sedgwick, with whom he covered a 
five-year period of study in four years. He 
opened an office in his own town, the pioneer 
in his profession in Blandford. His place of 
business was his own house, f which he built 
a little below the tavern. Mr. Ashmun 
had a large local practice, and many a hard 
drive he took, and many a close and search- 
ing arraignment of transgressors was spoken 
from his lips in the court room in the house 
of Jedediah Smith, Esq., on Beech hill. Here 
in this mountain town "the public atten- 
tion was turned to him as possessing un- 
common powers of mind and great promise 
for professional distinction; the circle of his 
acquaintance extended ; his professional busi- 
ness increased, and in a very few years he 
compassed a professional practice hardly 
second in extent to any in either of the 

* From an article in the Hampshire Gazette, 1819, following the death 
of Eli P. Ashmun. 

t Now on the northeast corner of the Russell road. In this house the 
late Hon. Samuel Knox was born and died. "Squire Knox" studied 
law with Mr. Ashmun, and became prominent in national politics, 
being intimately associated with President Lincoln in the period 
of the war, when he was the only republican representative in 
Congress from Missouri. 

55 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

counties of Hampshire or Berkshire."* He 
possessed remarkable talents for discerning 
the truth, and faithfully made use of them 
for exposing falsehood and chicane, for cross- 
examining a false witness until the perjurer 
was glad "to compound for his own safety." 
In 1807 he removed, with his mother, to 
Northampton. "He was for several years a 
member of both houses of the Massachusetts 
Legislature. In 1816 he was chosen a coun- 
sellor, and soon after, on the resignation of 
Mr. Gore, a member of the Senate of the 
United States. He performed the duties 
of this office for two years, when his increased 
fondness for domestic life, and the em- 
barrassment occasioned by a severe pecuniary 
loss, induced him to resign, "f He was 
associated in the Senate with Harrison Gray 
Otis. He died prematurely in 1819 of a 
pulmonary complaint, a disease which prob- 
ably hastened his indisposition to continue 
in public office, which office he filled with 
great dignity and ability. 

If at first thought it may seem to be 
wandering wide to pursue the story of the 

* Reminiscences of a pupil, 
t Hampshire Gazette. 

56 



THE ASHMUNS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS 

Ashmun family from father to grandson in 
careers which look back only somewhat re- 
motely to the old corner tavern, yet certain 
traits of the country landlord and squire 
became so persistent in the children of the 
next two generations, that to learn those 
marks of great manhood in the grandchildren 
is to know the grandsire better. 

Eli P. Ashmun had two sons, John Hooker 
and George. The former, a man of rare 
talent in his profession, became Royall Pro- 
fessor of Law in the Dane Law School of 
Harvard University in 1829, a position which 
he filled with such distinguished ability until 
his untimely death in 1833, that it was 
thought by many that a satisfactory suc- 
cessor could not be found at all. Samuel 
Bowles said of him that "he possessed one 
of the subtlest intellects that was ever 
devoted to the disentanglement of legal 
questions, and his epitaph, written by 
Charles Chauncey Emerson, says he was 
fitted to teach at an age when most men are 
only beginning to learn."* One finds again 
the father in the son u\this further estimate 

* Springfield Republican, 1870. 

57 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

of his character by George H. Hillard:* 
"He walked in the steady daylight of truth; 
he was never led astray by phantoms and 

unsubstantial gleams He detected 

at once sophistry, loose and inconsequential 
reasoning, fanciful distinctions, subtle re- 
finements, and all the arts by which partisans 
deceive others and often themselves, and 

treated them with no mercy His 

recitations were so searching, and the desire 
of his approbation was so strong, that all, 
even the most indolent, if they pretended to 
study at all, studied faithfully and learned 
accurately." One requires not a too lively 
imagination, seeing the same sterling qualities 
of mind and character in the father and son, 
to be persuaded that the grandfather, — 
taverner and country squire, — imparted to 
these worthy men some initial access to 
their priceless gifts. 

Pursuant of this thought, it is in order to 
trace in bare outline the character and career 
of George Ashmun, younger brother of John. 
He studied law in Northampton with his 
elder brother, and became partner in law 

* Springfield Republican 1870. 

58 



THE ASHMUNS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS 

with Chief Justice Chapman of Massachusetts. 
He practised law in Springfield, was four 
times a member of the Massachusetts Legis- 
lature, and Speaker once, was twice in the 
Massachusetts Senate and three times in the 
National House of Representatives, was the 
dignified and masterful chairman of the 
republican convention that nominated 
President Lincoln. "He had something of 
the great power of logical analysis for which 
his brother, the professor, was distinguished; 
but he had also more brilliant qualities of 
mind, greater power of expression, a more 
commanding presence, and that gift of per- 
sonal magnetism which gave him great in- 
fluence with courts and juries."* After Fort 
Sumter was fired on, in a memorable con- 
ference by night with Stephen A. Douglas, 
he converted that great Illinoisian to his 
country's cause. At the close of the inter- 
view, "'Now,' said Mr. Ashmun, 'let us go 
up to the White House and talk with Mr. 
Lincoln. I want you to say to him what 
you have said to me, and then I want the 
result of the night's deliberations to be 

* Samuel Bowles in the Springfield Republican 1870. 

59 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

telegraphed to the country.' .... Then 
and there Mr. Douglas took down the map 
and planned the campaign. Then and there 
he gave in, most eloquently and vehemently, 
his adhesion to the administration and the 
country. Mr. Ashmun briefly epitomized 
the story and it went by telegraph that night 
over the country to electrify and encourage 
every patriot on the morrow."* He was 
"a king among men, and drew around him 
a circle of devoted and loving friends, "f 

Surely the corner tavern had established 
its right to be. The venerable institution, 
after Justus Ashmun 's death, became the 
widow's dower. Most of the farm property 
passed into other hands, but she had posses- 
sion of half the barns on the opposite side of 
the road. She carried on the license in her 
own name for a time. Reuben, perhaps a 
son, appears to have conducted it for several 
years. J 

In 1807 the tavern property, including 
forty-five acres of land on both sides of the 
road, passed over to Benjamin Scott, who 
kept up the traditions and business of the 

* Samuel Bowles in the Springfield Republican 1870. 
t Id. 

t Titus Ashmun, whoever he vvas, had a license in 1798, in a location not 
indicated. 

60 



THE ASHMUNS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS 

house with good prestige. His local career 
began in a remote part of town, where we 
shall presently seek him out again. By the 
time he had become well established in the 
corner tavern, he was written down as 
"Merchant," having already advanced from 
the honorable rank of "yoeman" to the 
commercially distinct occupation of "trader" 
— the usual path of the old-time innkeeper. 
He was not for many years in the village. 
In 1812 his widow, Margaret*, was in posses- 
sion of her dower, the old tavern where her 
husband was established before removing 
to the village, and she appears to have con- 
tinued the business there. Some of her 
husband's estate was sold "at public vendue" 
from this same corner tavern when the latter 
was in the hands of Isaac Lloyd. That was 
as late as 1826, and the property was bid 
in by Henry W. Scott, possibly a son. Ser- 
gius W. Lloyd was proprietor in 1823 and 
other years. 

Little has been saved for tradition con- 
cerning this old stand during the early years 
of the nineteenth century, but enough, from 

* Mrs. Scott is recorded as having a license in 1810. 

61 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

frequent references in real estate convey- 
ances and like documents, to show that it 
was keeping on its way, though the com- 
manding influence of a continuing, masterful 
personality like that of Squire Ashmun 
was gone. The property passed from one 
to another in somewhat rapid succession. 
In 1811, and perhaps for several years, 
Eleazer Slocum was landlord, and under 
his management the house was a prominent 
one among the numerous taverns of the 
town. Jabez Goodell was proprietor and 
owner in 1813. The next year it passed to 
Asa Smith, who was a squire, and for many 
years was deputy sheriff. Many a warrant 
was issued by him, and many a prosecution, 
whether civil or criminal, was conducted 
by him with the assistance of the local 
lawyers, the trial being had in the court 
room of Jedediah Smith on Beech hill. The 
deputy sheriff owned for a time the house 
on the terrace, built by the Hatches, opposite 
the old parsonage. One would like to know 
more about this dignitary, but documents 
other than those referred to are unrewarding. 
The property under review was subject to 

62 



THE ASHMUNS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS 

so many changes during this period, so many 
divisions and subdivisions, so many inherit- 
ances and mortgages, as to become seriously 
involved. Many stages on through lines 
were passing and re-passing, business was 
pushing, and men and women of unrest and 
prophetic vision were looking westward, as 
States and territories were carved out of the 
national domain. In the midst of it the 
tavern was the subject of enormous com- 
petition. Profits must have been corres- 
pondingly divided. So mixed became the 
titles to the corner tavern, or so heavy were 
the mortgages, that in 1828 a transfer was 
made by the administrators of Isaac Lloyd 
to William Watson for the sum of two dollars 
and a half, subject to a mortgage to General 
Alanson Knox. The same year the property 
was taken over by Orrin Sage, a prominent 
business man of the town, who figures 
actively in another chapter of our story. 

At last the venerable Mansion House of 
the Ashmun regime was torn down, and 
Squire Sage put up a new hotel on the spot. 
This new improvement produced so great 
an impression upon the town that, at a town 

63 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

meeting held May 10, 1830, on motion 
of Milton Boies, the following resolution was 
passed : 

"Whereas Orrin Sage has erected a hand- 
some and commodious house on the grounds 
where there has been a public house for 
nearly seventy years — and whereas the 
licensing of said house as a public tavern 
would very much accommodate travellers, 
and the Inhabitants of the town it being 
much more central than any other place — 
and whereas the travel and business through 
this town has of late very much increased — 
Therefore — 

"Voted, That, in our opinion, public neces- 
sity and convenience require that Justin 
Loomis, who now occupies said House, should 
be licensed as an Innkeeper," etc. In pur- 
suance of this action the County commis- 
sioners were to be memorialized. It is of 
record that Loomis received his license that 
year and the next. In November of this 
year, the town voted that the post office 
should be removed to Squire Sage's store as 
more central and convenient than any other 
place. The store was opposite the tavern. 

64 



THE ASHMUNS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS 

Somewhat later the business of the tavern 
fell into the hands of Samuel Day, whose 
administration of it connects with remin- 
iscences of those now living or but recently 
dead. The late Hon. Samuel Knox bore 
witness that the house had a high record 
for hospitality, but on an exceptional occasion 
was able to cater rather inadequately to a 
transient party of four. One of the party was 
an insane patient in the charge of officers 
who were conveying him to the hospital at 
Worcester. There was a plate on the table 
containing but three cakes. The patient, 
not entirely bereft of wit, surveying the 
meagre fare, hastily bowed his head, and in 
the hearing of his companions returned 
thanks on this wise : 

"Three cakes, and us four; 
Thank the Lord there's no more." 

Judge Knox used to tell another story of 
old stage-coach days. Its date is later than 
that of our narrative, but it belongs with it, 
nevertheless, so far removed from it are 
we now by means of steam railroads, elec- 
tricity, the depletion of the country and the 
wild inflation of the city. However near 

65 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

to the biographical experience of elders still 
in the flesh, the story is of another world 
whose door is fast closing to all living mem- 
ories, a world that shall never again be. 
Mr. Knox had occasion in his young manhood 
to go from his native town to Chicago. Of 
course he went by stage nearly all, if not 
quite all, the way. On the trip west he fell 
in with a drunken driver, of whom he was 
sorely minded to make complaint to head- 
quarters, when he discovered that this Jehu 
was an old pupil of his. The young man 
was fulfilling the promise of his boyhood, 
as the lad had broken up two schools before 
Mr. Knox took charge as successor to the 
routed pedagogues. The new teacher found 
early occasion to request the youth to desist 
from certain offensive conduct, but the boy 
kept right on. Taking out his watch, Mr. 
Knox said, "I wish you to discontinue that 
action for the good order of the school, and 
I will give you two minutes to remove your- 
self from the school, or I shall remove you." 
The boy began to cry and to promise refor- 
mation. He was allowed to stay. One day 
the music teacher came in and began to 

66 



THE ASHMUNS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS 

criticise the master's method, whereupon 
this boy left his seat, walked up to the music 

teacher and said, "You shut your 

mouth, or I'll put you out." This one-time 
school teacher of Blandford, won to relenting 
by appealing memories of other days, made 
no complaint of his drunken driver. 

We have gone far afield. The corner 
tavern was no mere provincial caravansary. 
Its field was the world. 



67 



Chapter Four 

The Old Post Road; or the 
Berkshire Road 



"^HE east-and-west road through the 
town was known under various desig- 
nations. In the earlier days it was 
called "the Sheffield road," or, "the 
Great Road leading to Housatunnock." It 
was sometimes spoken of as "the post road." 
In the earliest times it was the only road 
dignified by the postman's presence. By 
1770 it received the designation of "the 
Great Barrington road," and shortly after, 
"the Albany road." Sometimes it was de- 
scribed as "the road to Stockbridge." Occa- 
sionally, in Revolutionary times, it would 
be referred to as "the High Way from Blan- 
ford Street to y e Green woods road;" but 
that, like "the Tunock road," was a local 
designation. At the close of the eighteenth 
century and the beginning of the nineteenth 
it commonly went by the name of "the 
County road," never as the village street, 




House of Reuben Boise. Esq., Berkshire Road 



THE OLD POST ROAD 

or the town street, for it was not that, though 
it is to-day. The road itself, in its changing 
names, reflects something of its checkered 
and interesting history. 

It entered the town after the weary climb 
over Russell mountain, to adopt a modern 
designation, and ran over the crest of Birch 
hill, in the southeasterly quarter of the 
town's territory, a section now almost wholly 
given over to woodland and pasture, but 
well populated in the early years. Traces 
of many an old cellar hole and here and 
there the deep scar of an abandoned road 
are discernible. Somewhere near the foot 
of Birch hill was the tavern of Dea. John 
Knox, who began the business of innkeeper 
in 1757, continuing to 1771, and as retailer 
for two years longer still. This town worthy 
had emigrated from Glasgow, Scotland, his 
native city, with his older brothers William 
and Adam, when only ten years old.* His 
house was on the high road of travel east and 

* It is impossible to locate John Knox's tavern. His son Elijah built the 
fine large house recently owned by E. W. Bennett, a lineal descendant, 
and now in possession of S. H. Peebles, on the old turnpike road to 
V/estfield. John Knox owned that lot, and there was an old cellar 
hole just below the present house, which was built in 1784. But 
he also owned real estate farther down the road, at or near the 
more recent "gate house," in the present Wyman neighborhood. 
John Knox's "Homelot" was there in 1767. It would seem that 
his house must have been in that immediate vicinity. 

69 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

west through the heart of the town. In the 
Old Farmer s Almanack of the year 1802, 
there is a stage and tavern list which mentions 
"Knox" as the stopping place on the line 
in the town of Blandford. It is a little 
puzzling, as there is no Knox named in the 
official list of Blandford licenses for that 
year. But this is only one instance with 
many others where the innholder's or re- 
tailer's business was carried on extensively 
without any present evidence, in extant 
official records, of a license. That was pre- 
eminently true of Squire Jedediah Smith 
and Col. Samuel Sloper. The almanac list 
just cited is here reproduced by way of 
interesting comparison with one on a previous 
page: 

TO ALBANY AND QUEBEC. 



Springfield 






Parsons 


96 


Over the rivei 


• to 


Ely's 




2 


Westfield 






Clap 


7 


ditto 






Emerson 


3 


Blandford 






Knox 


6 


Greenwood 






Rowley 


6 


ditto 






Emerson 


3 


Tyringham 






Chadwick 


7 


Great Barrin 


gto 


n 


Root 


9 



70 



Whiting 
Hicks 


1 
4 


Cowles 


4 


Mackinstry 
Ray 

Haggaboom 
Goofe 


3 
3 
3 
4 


Voubarg 
Fitch 


1 
2 




8 



THE OLD POST ROAD 

ditto 
Egremont 
Nobletown 

ditto 

ditto 
Stonehole 
Kinderhook 

ditto 

ditto 
Albany Ferry 

After about a mile of gentle rise has been 
accomplished up toward the modern village of 
Blandford, a trim little white cottage is seen, 
surrounded by verandas, and backed by a larger 
L. It is a modern summer cottage.* Until 
quite recently it stood simply for what it used to 
be, without L, innocent of verandas, devoid of 
paint, homely, individual, humble. It stands 
on the easterly rim of the village, just under 
the brow of the elevation on which the latter 
rests, and the modern cottages on Sunset rock 
look down upon it. It occupies the lotf 
which John Boies bought of Adam Knox in 
1749. Thence J the estate passed over to 

* Belonging to Myron L. Henry, of Mount Vernon, N. Y. 

t No. 46 of the first division. The street cuts diagonally across the home 
lots of the second division, and the easterly tier of the first division 
lots, then turns, by the school house just below the meeting house, 
so as to pass down "Tannery hill" between lots 8 and 9. 

t In 1760 Dr. John White bought or essayed to buy it. He mortgaged it 
back to the owner, to whom it reverted again the next year. 

71 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

his son, John Boies, Jr., in 1769. There is a 
strong tradition among the descendants to 
the effect that John Boies kept a tavern in 
this little house. His license is not of record, 
neither is there any other documentary 
evidence, unless a reference in one of the 
deeds should be accounted such, which 
refers to the building as "the house commonly 
called by the name of the John Boies house," 
a rather unusual manner of describing a 
strictly private house. This residence of 
John Boies was very unassuming, standing 
only a story and a half high. Probably a 
bed and a meal could be furnished to a 
passing guest, but, as always, the liquid 
refreshment to be had constituted the prin- 
cipal reason for the public character of the 
house, if such it had. 

Mention of other taverns in this imme- 
diate vicinity is left for a succeeding chapter, 
as our present design is not to linger in the 
village, but to pass over the famous old 
highway which so early pierced the wilder- 
ness to open to civilization this western 
section of a developing commonwealth. The 
corner tavern below the meeting-house is 

72 



I™lr\_ 


^n > 


t~| 1.' 


ml " 


ZDuflj 


11 . 1 


H&4 






Front Stairway, and Parlor Cupboard, Reuben Boise's House 

Showing (a) one-half of double wagon-seat; (b) glass flip mug on middle 

upper shelf of cupboard 



THE OLD POST ROAD 

forging on its way of fame. Between it and 
the old burying-ground, dipping down the 
hill deep into the cross valleys of Little river 
watershed the road invites the wayfarer 
to Pixley's and the new western towns. 

Echoes of the prodigious importance of 
this thoroughfare, and of the extreme diffi- 
culty and cost of construction and main- 
tenance, come down to us along through the 
years. Spite of all, through the midst of 
poverty and war, possibly also through 
occasional neglect, the fathers were now 
and then involved in trouble. "The grand 
jurors of our Sovereign Lord y e King" — so 
read the records of the court of general 
sessions for the county of old Hampshire, 
in the year 1756 — "do on their Oaths present 
the Town of Blandford for not repairing 
the Highway — The said Town appeared by 
John Boice one of y e Selectmen of said Town 
and on their behalf pleaded guilty to y e 
Presentment. The Court referred the cer- 
tification to y e next Court." The next year 
the town was fined for the offense aforesaid 
one shilling and cost. John Boies may have 
pleaded the court's clemency on account of 

73 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

the struggles and poverty of the town. At 
any rate consideration was given at the 
same time that it was forcibly signified that 
in any event the thoroughfares must be 
kept open. It was not this town alone which 
felt the burden to be too heavy to carry. 
On June 14, 1762, the General Court of the 
Province granted a petition of Eldad Taylor, 
Esq., in behalf of township No. 4, asking 
for relief from burdensome taxes. "They 
had been there," he said, "but little more 
than four Years when the tax was laid, 
during which time they have been a great part 
employed in making and cleaning Roads 
not only through their own Town, but 
through the Country to Blandford." 

Along this high road passed those troopers 
whom Rev. James Morton entertained to 
the scandal of his people. Up and down 
these steep and rocky declivities were drawn 
Washington's cannon, when Gen. Henry Knox 
dismantled Fort Ticonderoga to make effec- 
tive the siege of Boston, and this was the 
sorrowful way of some of the Hessians on 
their involuntary trip to Boston after their 
capture. This, too, was the way to Louden, 

74 



THE OLD POST ROAD 

which bulks so large in the imaginations of 
so many discontented citizens of the town 
after the Revolution, while over and along 
these hills and dales traveled thousands 
who came from the eastern towns to fill up the 
population of the new towns to the west- 
ward. In business, comfort, and pleasure 
the tavern was no insignificant chapter in 
the experience of the motley throngs and 
scattering wayfarers. 

Says Dr. J. G. Holland,* "The first road, 
or path, through the townf was made by 
General Amherst and his army in 1759, on 
his way from Boston to Albany. On this 
passage he staid one night each in West- 
field, Blandford, Sandisfield on Noble Hill, 
and Monterey at the Brewer place. For 
many years after the Revolution, this road 
was called 'The great Road from Boston to 
Albany,' and was the only road between 
those places crossing directly the county of 
Berkshire. Burgoyne's army, after the sur- 
render at Stillwater, passed over the road 
on their way to Boston, and remained three 

* History of Western Massachusetts, Vol. II, pp. 540-541. 
t Of Louden. 



75 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

days at Otis, where they buried one of the 
soldiers." 

Gen. Knox told in a diary his story of the 
Ticonderoga expedition in part on this wise. 
Its object was "to transfer the serviceable 
portions of the cannon and other ordnance 
captured in that fortress to the camp of 
Washington where it was so greatly needed 
for the successful prosecution of the siege 
of Boston."* The project was Gen. Knox's 
own, and its success won for him the favor 
of Washington, whose Secretary of War he 
became. The diary continues: "Fort 

George, Dec. 17, 1775 It is not 

easy to conceive the difficulties we have had 
in getting (the cannon) over the lake owing 
to the advanced season of the year & con- 
trary winds. Three days ago it was very 
uncertain whether we should have gotten 
them until next spring; but now please God 
they must go. I have had made 42 exceed- 
ing strong sleds, & have provided 80 yoke 
of oxen to drag them as far as Springfield 
when I shall get fresh cattle to carry them 
to camp. 

*New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. 30, p. 321. 

76 



THE OLD POST ROAD 

"The route will be from here to Kinder- 
hook, from thence to Great Barrington and 

down to Springfield I expect to 

begin to move them to Saratoga on Wednes- 
day or Thursday next trusting that between 
this & then we shall have a fine fall of snow 
which will enable us to proceed further & 
make the carriage easy." 

Jan. 5, 1776. Albany. The snow tarried. 
Instead, there was "a cruel thaw." "Jan. 
10th. Reach'd No. 1, after having climbed 
mountains from which we might almost 
have seen all the Kingdoms of the Earth. 

"11th. Went 12 miles thro' the Green 
Woods to Blandford. It appear 'd to me 
almost a miracle that people with heavy 
loads should be able to get up and down 
such Hills as we have, with anything of 
heavy loads. 11th. At Blandford we over- 
took the first division who had tarried here 
untill we came up, and refus'd going any 
further, on acco" that there was no snow 
beyond five or six miles further in which 
space there was the tremendous Glasgow 
or Westfield mountain to go down. But 
after about three hours persuasion, I hiring 

77 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

two teams of oxen, they agreed to go." 

By Jan. 24 Gen. Knox reported in person 
to his chief, the cannon and mortars were 
quickly placed, the position of the enemy 
was rendered speedily untenable, and Boston 
was evacuated. 

Two. receipts are appended: 
"Receipts 

"Fort George, Dec. 16, 1775. 
"Rec d of Henry Knox twenty dollars which Cap'. 
John Johnson paid to different Carters for the use 
of their Cattle, in dragging Cannon from The Fort 
of Ticonderoga to the North Landing of Lake George 
j£lO. 8 W m Brown } r . Lieut* 

"Blandford, Jany 13, 1776 
"Rec^ of Henry Knox eighteen shillings lawful 
money for carrying a Cannon weighing 24C.3 from 
this Town to Westfield being 1 1 Miles 18 s. 

Solomon Brown" 

Whether Blandford was a provincial town, 
whether the taverns had anything to do, 
whether the tap-rooms afforded opportunity 
for spirited and timely topics of conversa- 
tion, whether the youth of the town were 
in touch with what was going on, let these 
facts and citations give answer. 

Gen. Knox was not the only army officer 

* This is a Blandford name. 



THE OLD POST ROAD 

of the Revolutionary forces that had to en- 
counter the "tremendous Glasgow or West- 
field mountain." Sept. 24, 1777, Gen. Heath 
called the attention of the State Legislature to 
"the almost constant passing and re-passing 
of carriages to and from the northern Army 
with provisions and Military Stores" over a 
well nigh impassable road. A committee 
was appointed to make repairs. A petition 
had been sent in by "Inhabitants of Berk- 
shire and others representing that the 
publick Road, leading from Westfield, through 
that rough and but little cultivated Tract of 
Land, well known by the name of Green 
Woods, to Great Barrington is almost im- 
passable for want of Reparation; that the 
exigencies of War, the Situation of our 
Continental Army on the Hudson's River 
and the present State of our foreign Trade 
render it necessary that a very great Part of 
the Supplies of the Provision of the Inhabi- 
tants of the State consisting of foreign Com- 
modities as well as Provisions of flour and 
other Necessaries remitted to Boston and 
other Sea Ports within this State should be 
transported there, — whereby a prodigious 

79 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

additional Expense is incurred as well to 
the Continent as to Individuals, in Teams and 
Carriages, dashing in pieces of Casks and 
other vessels, occasioning the great Damage 
or total Destruction of their valluable Con- 
tents; and as the Expense of repairing said 
Road so as to make the same feasable would 
greatly exceed the abilities of those People 
who live near and who alone are by Law 
obliged to repair the same, your Petitioners are 
of Opinion that should your Honors grant a 
Lottery for the Purpose of raising a sufficient 
Sum of Money for repairing said Road, a 
sufficient number of People, from a true 
Spirit of Patriotism, conscious of the Utility 
of the Measure would speedily and cheer- 
fully contribute a Sum adequate to this 
important Purpose," etc. 

This petition was signed at Great Barring- 
ton by James Bull and twenty-seven others. 
Lottfries were a favorite means of raising 
money in those days, both for public im- 
provements of this sort and for educational 
and benevolent purposes generally. The 
sittings for these lotteries were held at the 
taverns, where the people of the country 

80 




!erkshire Road, at foot of Step Hill 



THE OLD POST ROAD 

flocked to take their questionable chances. 
It sometimes developed that exception was 
taken to the method, under the guise of 
zeal for purer morals, when politics or other 
objection to the scheme was the real one. 

As a matter of fact, this enterprise of road- 
building and road-repairing was subject of 
a good deal of pulling and hauling other 
than that of material freight. Rival routes 
were laid in evidence. As in the lay-out, 
construction and operation of modern rail- 
roads, so in these days and a little later in 
the turnpike period, roads were opened for 
the purpose of attracting traffic away from 
an already established line to a new one. 
That transpired in Blandford and in adjoin- 
ing towns. Fortunes were made and unmade 
by such scheming and building. This par- 
ticular piece of business became a hot-bed 
of discussion and passion. There were three 
rival routes to be adjudicated upon. Then 
it appeared that it was both immoral and 
inexpedient to raise money by so question- 
able a means as a lottery, unless it should be 
to meet the strenuous necessities of one road 
at the most; that the repairing of three 

81 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

roads would invite all sorts of political jobs 
with their resulting demoralization. 

The order passed for the repair of three 
roads. The sum authorized to be raised 
was not to exceed two hundred thousand 
dollars, and that "with a deduction of 
twenty per cent, upon the amount of the 
tickets sold." The "South road" was des- 
cribed as running from Josiah Brewer's to 
the "crotch of the road near Blandford meet- 
ing-house," evidently the junction of the 
town street and the Housatonic road. 
The "middle road"* was designated as 
extending "from half a mile west of Tag- 
gard's, so called, to Becket line." That 
would appear to be the road still called in 
town by the name of the Green woods road, 
and will be the subject of a later chapter. 
The committee to receive and expend the 
money were Trueman Wheeler, Esq., Major 
Warham Parks, Mr. Jonathan Brewster, Capt. 
Eli Root, and Capt. Norton. Parks was, 
or was soon to become, a Blandford man, of 
large affairs and influence, and withal a 
keeper of a tavern. 

* The third road does not concern this story. 



82 



THE OLD POST ROAD 

The path which was marked out over this 
route in 1735 could have been in no true 
sense a road — only a bridle-path. The first 
lay-out which I have been able to find record 
of is that by the county of old Hampshire, 
of date, Aug. 27, 1754. It is entitled, a 
road "from y* Town of Westfield thro Blan- 
ford & No 1 to y e North Parish in Sheffield," 
etc. It appears to have been innocent of 
any surveyor's accounting. For that reason, 
doubtless, it is far more intelligible and 
interesting to the ordinary reader, though 
more of detail in the description would now 
be appreciated. This became known as the 
Berkshire road. 

After climbing the mountain substantially 
as the fathers climbed it at the beginning, 
the record runs: "The Road from y e East 
side of Westfield mountain to Blandford 
bounds to be 8 rods wide from y e aforesaid 
line we continued in y e main as y e road is 
now Trod until we come South of Blandford 
meeting house." That road can even now 
easily be traced through the woods up and 
over Birch hill. William H. Gibbs is un- 
doubtedly right when he says,* speaking of 

* Historical Address, pp. 46-47. 

83 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

the earliest years of the town's life, "Roads 
in those days were hardly worthy of the 
name, and in fact were nearly impassable. 
It is said that two men sank down and ex- 
pired on their way to Great Barrington. 
For many years the only way of transporting 
heavy merchandise was upon a dray." 

This artery of commerce and good neigh- 
borhood, after climbing the hill from the 
valley at Springfield and Westfield, rises to 
an elevation of 1460 feet at the ten acres 
where stood the proprietors' school-house 
and the corner tavern, with the old burying- 
ground on the opposite side of the street. 
The elevation at East Otis, which lies just 
across Blandford's western boundary, is 1500 
feet. But a basin, almost a chasm, lies 
between, with dip to the southeast, which 
thrusts the waters of the Westfield Little 
river system rapidly down into the valley. 
The highway cuts athwart these brooks and 
ridges at right angles, up and down its 
devious and difficult way. The road no 
sooner gets well by the old burying-ground 
than the fall begins. Passing the site of 
the now lamented Watson house, where 

84 



THE OLD POST ROAD 

John Watson was soon to have his tannery, 
and where, after the Revolution, he carried 
on a retailer's license for a year or two, 
down what is now called, after his industry, 
Tannery hill, in the course of its first mile 
of descent the road sinks to the level of 1100 
feet, where it crosses a little brook, then 
rises over a knoll to descend still deeper again in 
the next half mile to 1000 feet. Here a bridge 
spans the pond brook, which conveys the 
waters of North meadow and Long ponds 
through North Blandford down to the river. 
The commissioners describe their path- 
finding from the town street down and over 
these rugged slopes according to the ap- 
proved signs of their day. "Leaving ye 
Town street* to y e Southward," they say, 
"we steered a Westerly Course thro ye land 
of the Rev d Mr. Morton & Roberts Henry 
y e Road to be 4 Rods wide between these 
men and to be Taken proportionably from 
each." The lay-out goes on to mention 
the stream which empties the ponds: "We 
still kept a westerly Course by a line of 
marked Trees till we came in to y e main path 

* This means that what is now the West Granville road was then called 
"ye Town street" in its southward extension. 

85 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

leading to No 1 near a large Brook from 
Westiield Bounds thro Blandford to said 
Brook y e Road to be 6 Rods wide except 
between Morton and Henry aforesaid; From 
y e aforesaid Brook we continued our Course 
in y e trodden path till we came to y e steep 
Hill so called." A little before this hill is 
reached, on the first summit above the brook, 
commanding an extensive outlook, stands 
the large, square, two-story house built by 
Squire Reuben Boies just after the Revo- 
lution. He had become a large landholder 
and a man of position and influence in the 
town. His much humbler and earlier home 
was a couple of miles to the north, a house 
still well preserved as L to a larger and more 
recent structure. 

He had an Jinnholder's license in 1781 and 
again in 1784, when his new house was built. 
In all probability the indicated period is 
short of the facts. His new home was well 
adapted to entertaining, and he probably 
found a way to put his dwelling to large use. 

Enter the wide front door. Before you 
rises a stairway leading to a landing midway 
of the two floors, where the stairway divides 

86 



THE OLD POST ROAD 

and brings you to either side of the upper 
hall according to your fancy. In this 
spacious upper story there were the bed 
rooms, uniting — or dividing — two of which was 
a swinging partition suspended from strong 
hinges. This was for the purpose of fur- 
nishing a dance hall of due proportions by 
suspending the swinging partition by means 
of hooks to the ceiling. Down stairs, in the 
parlor, is a cupboard stored with ancient 
china and glass ware, including the ancestral 
flip mug of glass, imported from Ireland 
by the original Boises. The shelves in the 
upper part have that peculiar, compound 
curvature of outline, with a swell front in 
the center, which is so choice a relic of the 
ancient days. The spacious kitchen bears 
witness to the hospitality of the builder and 
proprietor. Oil portraits look down from 
the walls and bid you remember the days 
of laughter, but especially the days of silence. 
Then there is the old double chair, firm and 
straight and elegant of its kind, the first 
double wagon seat — so it is said — used in 
town, an article of furniture seemingly for 
alternate use at home and on the highway. 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

The road on which the windows of this 
house look out is that whose martial history 
has already been recounted. Burgoyne's 
fellow prisoners passed along here, and the 
modest claim is put forth that not in this 
house, but in a predecessor on the spot, Gen. 
Washington spent a night. 

Squire Reuben Boise was a man of sub- 
stantial position and large influence in town. 
He was for many years town clerk. When 
he finally relinquished his task, the town 
passed (in 1818) this resolution : 

"Voted unanimously that the thanks of 
the Town be presented to Reuben Boise 
Esq r for the long and faithful Services he 
has rendered them up to the present 
advanced period of his life, and that he is 
entitled to the best wishes of his Fellow 
Townsmen so long as a wise and holy 
providence may be pleased to continue him 
with us." 

From Squire Boise's old mansion the road 
to the westward dips a little into a quiet 
dale, then abruptly mounts to another and 
higher eminence. It is the hill which the 
county commissioners of 1754 called "steep 



THE OLD POST ROAD 

hill." The name which they have helped 
to preserve still clings to it in the corrupted 
form of "Step hill," which corruption is now 
the inheritance of generations. In less than 
a mile of continued westerly progress to this 
point, three hundred feet in elevation have 
been recovered. Here and along the diverg- 
ing road to the north leading down into North 
Blandford a majestic panorama of hill and 
valley expands eastward and northward and 
southward. To the eastward, extending for 
miles along the sky line, one sees the length- 
ened plateau chosen by the fathers for their 
town street. The meeting-house of 1822 
stands up in full height, from the ground 
to the weather vane on its steeple, white 
and glistening in the western sun, fronted 
by the old pines where the ancients hitched 
their horses, while just on the hither slope 
in crowded tier on tier are seen the white 
marble slabs of the cemetery representing 
the same generation which built the sanc- 
tuary that overlooks the graves of both 
yards, and those that have followed in the 
last journeyings of life. Thence, northward, 
stand silhouetted against the sky the modern 

89 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

homes and barns of the old street, with a few 
surviving representatives of the ancient days, 
not excepting a tavern or two. 

On this eminence let us tarry. On the 
north side of the road is the snug old home 
of Asa Culver and his wife, built, probably, 
by William Loughead* shortly after the 
Revolution, next owned and occupied by 
Isaac Loughead, who, as we have seen, 
later owned and ran the corner tavern in 
the Centre. The old big chimney has been 
topped off above the roof by a ridiculous 
little one of modern type, but otherwise the 
house is the same spacious, broad story- 
and-a-half building, with roof sloping to 
the street, front door in the front centre 
opening into a little hall whence a crooked 
stairway mounts upward to the chambers 
under the roof, one spacious room on either 
side, and in the parlor a cupboard like that 
in Squire Boise's. A friendly grape, with 
woodbine alternating, covers the trellis all 
along the front side, affording a leafy and 
fragrant bower in summer, and allowing all 
the genial warmth of the kindly winter sun 
to pour in at the windows during the months 

* Lloyd, as now spelled. 

90 



THE OLD POST ROAD 

of cold. Opposite is a beautiful modern 
cottage. By a happy conceit the two dwel- 
lings have received the soubriquets, respec- 
tively, of December and May. The new 
cottage is built on the site of an ancient 
tavern, probably erected by James Moore 
before the close of the Revolution. 

From this height the county road pushes 
along past Blair pond, originally called 
Twenty-mile pond, over a somewhat less 
rugged country, to the western boundary 
of the town near to its southwestern corner. 
Returning now to our guides of 1754: "then 
steering Southwardly by a line of marked 
Trees ab' 16 Rods then northwardly by a 
line of marked Trees we came into y e afore- 
said path till we came to y e 20 Mile Pond 
so called then turning Northwardly by s d 
Pond we kept a line of 2 marked Trees till 
we came into y e old path* at y e Right hand 
we kept a line of marked Trees till we came 
to Carriers house w h stands on y e aforesd 
path" — this was Pixley's — "from thence as 
y e path is now Trod to Rickleys heap of 
stones, so called then by a line of Trees markt 
on 3 sides for y e north side of y" Road, partly 

* V. Appendix III. 

91 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

in and partly out of the old path till we 
came to Jno Brewers Improvement in No 1 
The road from y e aforesd brook to y e top 
of Nobles hill 8 Rods from Top of said hill 
on y e East to y e Top on y e West to Farm- 
ington River 15 Rods from thence to No 1 
8 Rods." 

This western side of the town was once 
populous, its farms wide-stretching over up- 
land, meadow, and forest. They were pro- 
ductive too, and prosperity abounded. The 
schools were thronged, the taverns were not 
isolated, and the traffic of a State passed 
along. 

In the old plan of the township, one-half 
in the farm lot numbered 7, and one-half 
in 8, there is located a pond, about the size 
of Blair pond. None is there now, but instead, 
a swamp, known as "Great swamp," filled with 
alders , red ash and black spruce . A road crosses 
it, a section of a once lively thoroughfare.* 
With the exception of one corner of its 
territory, there is no modern deed covering 
any part of the area or this swamp. Yet 

* T c is now uncertain just where, through this section, the old Housatonic 
road ran. It is hardly to he believed that it crossed this pond or 
swamp. But it was not far off. 

92 



THE OLD POST ROAD 

it was in the hands of private ownership 
forty years after the thoroughfare was 
opened, for it was in part the farm of Ben- 
jamin Scott before ever he aspired to run 
the old corner tavern. 

It could not have been so very many 
years after the work of the commissioners 
of 1754 was done, that a new road* was 
opened from Blair pond to No. 1, or Louden, 
line, northerly of the first one. This more 
northerly road itself is very old, and corres- 
ponds with the dotted line laid down on the 
old map, a fact which would suggest that 
originally this dotted line did not belong 
in the plan at all, being added after the 
newer road was cut through. This thorough- 
fare passes near to the old Watson house 
by the pond, directly past the Blair pond 
school-house, or No. 7, up through "the 
narrows" and on by the ancient farm house 
of Mrs. Joseph Shepard, whose late husband 
was grandson of Jonathan Shepard, the 
purchaser of Pixley's farm, after its checkered 
career in connection with the tavern had 
come to its inglorious end. Tradition has 
it that this house was itself a tavern; and 

* V. Appendix III. 

93 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

its sumptuous proportions, with large front 
and end doors, invite one to believe it, but 
there is no trace of any documentary evidence 
to support the tradition. 

A network of roads converges in or very 
near to the present settlement known as 
East Otis, just over the western boundary 
of the township of Blandford, and near to 
the southwest corner of the latter. One of 
these, cutting that corner, is the old Hartford 
and Albany stage-road, otherwise known 
as the road from Louden to Granville, cross- 
ing also a section of the township of Tolland. 
It is a dreary waste, and off the old post-road. 
But the farm of Benjamin Scott was on 
both these roads, though his house happened 
to be on the Hartford and Albany line. We 
will tarry here for a little. Just to the 
south of the great swamp stands the lonely 
wreck of the tavern.* This is on the thorough- 
fare referred to by President Timothy D wight, 
in his story of extensive New England travel 
just about the time when Scott's tavern was 
doing business. He speaks of the Farmington 

* Better known now by a few as the Dearing place. It is so distant from 
town as to be supposed by some to lie within the territory of Tol- 
land. 



94 



THE OLD POST ROAD 

river running through Becket, Bethlehem, 
Louden, Granville, Hartland, Barkhampstead, 
New Hartford, Canton, Burlington, 
Bristol and Farmington, and says, with 
some spice of exaggeration as to grade: 
"Along its banks a turnpike road extends 
from Farmington to Becket in Massachu- 
setts; and thence through Lenox and Pitts- 
field to Albany; with a rise so gradual as to 
ascend the summit of the Green Mountains 
in a manner absolutely imperceptible to the 
traveller."* 

Scott began making real estate purchases 
in this section as early as 1799, amassing a 
considerable holding. Parts of his farm in- 
cluded the "Red Ash Swamp" and the 
"Black Spruce Swamp." He may have had 
a store, and carried on miscellaneous barter. 
At any rate, so little trading of any kind was 
done in cash in those days, and mortgages 
were taken and foreclosed so often by inn- 
keepers to make themselves good, that the 
landlord was almost of necessity a "trader," 
as Scott was, whether in personal or real 
property. There is just the fragment of an 

* Pp. 298, 299. 

95 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

account which Scott had for two years with 
Jedediah Smith, Esq., which in part illus- 
trates the point : 

Benjamin Scott Debtor 
December 12:1807. 

to taking the Deposition of Francis 

Hamilton & Rachel Lloyd $1 

June 8: 1808 to Execution Benjn Scott vs 

Stephen Pelton .25 

11 to Execution Benjn Scott vs 

Zebede Waterman . 25 

13 to two Bushel of potatoes . 50 

November to an alias Benjn Scott vs 

Zebede Waterman . 25 

December 23 to a Concession Note Shubael 

Upsan to Benjamin Scott .41 

Aside from the fact, already mentioned 
in a previous chapter, that Benjamin Scott's 
widow became proprietor of the house for a 
time after his death, this is all that the past 
seems willing to give up concerning this 
wayside inn. It is to-day a picturesque ruin, 
but will soon be no more. One goes freely 
in, looks up to the empty cupboards of the 
tap-room, sees bricks and mortar heaped 
in unsightly masses in the ornamented fire- 
places, lingers under the shade of the friendly 
trees, tries to repair in vision the wrecks 

96 



THE OLD POST ROAD 

of time and hear the bugle of the approach- 
ing stage from Hartford or Albany, to 
listen to the speech of guests and hangers-on 
and smell the savory odors from the kitchen 
where the meal is preparing, and to hear 
the clink of the glasses at the bar, where 
tongues are loosened, and, alas! where 
mortgages are started that prophesy the 
coming foreclosure as in the above account. 
The silent house for the most part holds its 
own secrets. It is not a place to stay in long. 
It is too silent and too lonely. 



97 



Chapter Five 

The Street and the Old 
Aristocracy 



T~~] ~^HE town street par excellence was the 
road which divided the east and west 
tiers of the first division settling lots. 
It was "the Great and General Rhoad," 
"the town street road," etc. From the meet- 
ing-house it ran north, eleven and one-half 
degrees west, in a bee line for two and one- 
third miles. At the easterly end of the 
twenty-third lot, it swerved off northwest- 
wardly, crossing several other settling lots 
diagonally, passing through what was very 
early called the "North end," and thence 
over North meadow brook and on into 
Becket — in other words, through the Green 
woods. In 1761 this was made a county 
road, on petition of Eldad Taylor of West- 
field, asking for a road from Blandford to 
Number 4, and thence to Pontoosuck. 

Northward of the point of divergence just 
mentioned, was a road passing on to the 



THE STREET AND THE OLD ARISTOCRACY 

northward somewhat crookedly as it ran 
in and out among the hills, to the end of the 
home lots of the first division, and separating 
that section of the first division lots in a 
sort of zig-zag way. Long before the end 
of the eighteenth century this northerly 
road became known, after its pristine im- 
portance had declined, as "the old town 
road." At the extreme northern end were 
the first, small division, or boys' lots. From 
eminences here and there are such far- 
stretching views to the north, of valley and 
mountain, as to merit the name which in 
recent years it has received— Beulah land. 

Just above the meeting-house, on or near 
lot number ten, in which is located the 
cemetery, was Robert Black's tavern in 
1748. It stood where now is the cemetery. 
Black was an original settler and drew 
that lot. How long he kept his tavern it 
is hard to say, the facts so persistently outdo 
the records of the county court. Robert 
and David Black were selling lots back 
and forth in 1768 and thereabout. It was 
on the tavern site that Rev. Joseph Patrick 
bought and made his home during his brief 

99 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

and unhappy ministry; so that the place 
was not run continuously as a tavern. Black 
took his turn in the traditional entertain- 
ments of town meetings, when the March 
winds had sufficiently chilled the bones of 
the yeomanry in the stoveless meeting-house. 
Doubtless, too, Sunday worshippers found 
genial warmth there as well as at Pease's 
or Ashmun's. Robert Black furthermore did 
his part in fulfilling the function of care- 
taker in "keeping the meeting house kee & 
opening & Shuting y e Doors & sweeping y e 
house for y e year 1769," as well as other 
years. 

A consecutive history of this tavern site is 
not possible. It passed to Robert Pease, 
of Somers, Connecticut, in 1782; thence, 
two years later, to his two sons, Abner and 
Alpheus, "with all buildings." Contempo- 
rary with Justus Ashmun's corner tavern 
it became known as Pease's tavern, thus 
continuing the name by which the older 
house first won its popularity. Alpheus seems 
to have dropped out, and the house became 
Capt. Abner Pease's. The record of his 
license covers the years of 1793 to 1799 

100 



THE STREET AND THE OLD ARISTOCRACY 

inclusive, but the stand doubtless got its repu- 
tation from a much longer term of service than 
this would indicate. The house is still standing, 
long since degraded to a rear-end building.* 

This tavern must have been for many 
long years a close competitor to the one on 
the corner. One has only to make a patient 
study of the mortgage deeds and foreclosures 
of the time to be assured that many a man 
drank up his homestead and brought his 
family to impoverishment at this tavern. 
In this respect, indeed, the tavern was like 
most places of its kind, the corner tavern 
under Justus Ashmun having been a marked 
exception. Incidents of gaiety, days and 
nights of good cheer and abundant hospi- 
tality, passing shows and fireside chats there 
were, of course, all along the years. These 
have gone into silence and forgetfulness, 
while the careful registry of deeds alone re- 
mains to preserve the story of business 
failures and domestic sorrows whose secret 
lay in the tap-room and the too imperious 
thirst of the old inn's multitudinous patrons. 

Capt. Pease became a lieutenant in the 

* Now belonging to Mrs. Rubena Delehanty, and lately of the estate of 
A. J. Smith, deceased. 

101 



fcRNS w. N rURNP KES 

century, s 

- as 

seta L798 and 1801. His 

i Sag '■ is d 

s n I - . 
s cons 

s - 

■ law 

Irishman and resented 
an undue meddle- 
s neness on le vis 

the Irishman. 

ut the 

tal Fuddv." 

n§ I that individual 

the es : his ays For years 

-. abr ad ex< 
One da; - mis- 

chi< - - t the village kx - the 

horse's nsertabr . stnut 

Lie. When : 
I an uv 

v him i : gi und 
with despatch, "Tut, tut!" said he: "this 



) THE OLD AS 

I 

B 

Before E 

I 

■ 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

legal and financial errands in this connection 
and in forwarding the Province tax, as well 
also as in attending presbytery as repre- 
sentative of the church. He was a much 
traveled man for those times. In one of 
the intervals between the furious conten- 
tions of minister and people, when extensive 
repairs were going on at the meeting-house, 
and "mr Kattlen" was in so long demand 
as an artisan, this same "matthew Blier" 
took his turn with "mr morton" the minister 
and "mr pees" the innkeeper at "Billet in" 
the gentleman, "man and hors keeping and 
other things for the pulpeat." He and his 
neighbor and competitor, Robert Black, with 
Robert Henry, were assigned the duty of 
establishing the bounds of the ten-acre lot 
and burying ground, in 1761. He very 
early built a saw-mill down in the second 
division "Eastward from the metting House." 
The Blairs were born to run a mill. Matthew 
Blair, Jr., succeeded his father, and other 
heirs divided the estate after him. For this 
story they do not interest us. 

But Samuel Sloper, who appears to have 
come into the lot numbered 11, as a tenant, 

104 



THE STREET AND THE OLD ARISTOCRACY 

as early as 1772, and who bought the lot in 
1786, does interest us very much, for a more 
picturesque personality never lived in Bland- 
ford town than he. 

The official records do not reveal a license 
for Samuel Sloper before the year 1778. It 
was an innholder's that year, and the same 
in 1781 and '84. In 1787 it was a retailer's. 
He must have had a license of some sort 
through the years, beginning much earlier 
and continuing much later than those dates. 
His ledger, rare old survivor of Blandford's 
cruel conflagrations, bears date of 1773, but 
contains items of sale in 1772. It must 
represent business done on the old Blair 
homestead as far back as this latter cited 
date. The Blairs appear to have transferred 
their interests and activities to the mill 
and otherwheres after the deacon's death. 

The old ledger and other scattering records, 
together with traditions still alive, throw a 
vivid and picturesque light over this unique 
and withal leading character of Revolutionary 
and later times in this goodly town. We 
know what he did, the goods he sold, the 
neighbors he lived among, the influence he 

105 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

wielded. A more versatile man the town 
never contained, though he may not have 
been a man of highest ability and culture. 
Whether in peace or war, in church or town, 
in affairs local or in concerns national, he 
was bustling, breezy and necessary. He 
never amassed a fortune, though he handled 
considerable property. He got himself into 
hot water more than once, became financially 
pinched, was probably too easy-going, too 
open-hearted for overmuch getting and keep- 
ing. Withal this landlord, store-keeper, 
soldier, ecclesiastic and general factotum 
adds immensely to the substance and tone 
color of the life of the town in the last third 
of the eighteenth century. His Revolu- 
tionary war record was most honorable, 
and must have stirred the pride of the citizens, 
who delighted to promote him to places of 
honor in peace as well as in war. In the 
intervals of his military service, he would 
come home and moderate a town meeting, 
serve a term as selectman, or consult the 
interests of his compatriots on the committee 
of inspection and safety. Then he would 
don his sword and be off again to the war. 

106 



THE STREET AND THE OLD ARISTOCRACY 

He was such a man as to leave behind him 
a legacy of traditions, still current. 

To one of his soldiers, who had won the 
fine nom de plume of "Pun'kin," he called 
out, one day on the march, "There, Pun'kin, 
is a good fat pig. I'll hold the kittle, but 
don't you touch the pig!" The colonel 
looked the other way while the pig was 
caught and put into the kettle, and the 
colonel never saw it again alive. Such law- 
lessness doubtless made him more popular 
with his soldiers than with the countryside. 
How many complaints were lodged at head- 
quarters against the marauding habits of 
his company, or regiment, is not of record, 
nor the number of such seizures which he 
never saw. One incident more has survived, 
however. Complaint was made that his 
regiment had stolen a lot of honey. He 
did not think that any of his men would do 
such a thing as to steal honey, but the 
aggrieved were granted the liberty to make 
diligent search in camp, the colonel mean- 
time warily accompanying them. The honey 
was in a keg in one of the tents. When the 
searching party were approaching danger- 

107 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

ously near to it, the colonel cried out to his 
men, "Here, boys, look out for your soap 
grease!" The visitors were not after that 
kind of ingredient, and the honey was not 
found. 

When the war was over, Col. Sloper rep- 
resented his town at the General Court. 
He was one of the town committee appointed 
to review the State constitution when that 
was before the suffrages of the people, and 
was a delegate at a county congress. When 
Murray field was in trouble, "Capt Sloper of 
Blandford," with two other men from Worth- 
ington and Norwich, was appointed on a com- 
mittee of mediation. He was town clerk 
for a period of years. 

Samuel Sloper was not arrayed in king's 
garments. His inventory, made in 1803, 
contains no mention of sword, not even a 
gun, nor buckles, nor silver ornament of any 
kind, nor silken stockings; only a hat valued 
at thirty cents, one linen shirt at forty, "1 
pair old velvet breeches," worth fifty cents, 
"1 fancy cotton vest," one dollar, "1 striped 
nankin do," thirty-three cents, "1 pair buff 
breeches," a dollar and a half, and one pair 

108 



THE STREET AND THE OLD ARISTOCRACY 

of woolen hose. That was all. He must 
have been a man of simplicity. His house- 
hold goods were plain affairs too, and seem 
to indicate that he had given up the business 
of public host before his demise, since he died 
possessed of but two bedsteads and four 
dining chairs, though his kitchen boasted 
nine chairs — the neighbors used to come in 
and occupy them and chat together, perhaps. 
There were only a half dozen knives and 
forks, and other paraphernalia of dining 
room and kitchen to correspond. 

He took the war census of the town in 1776. 
He was one of the men to distribute the salt 
which the state sent out to the towns during 
the stress of the war. The genial and jolly 
soul must have loved peace more than war, 
and bonhommie more than filthy lucre. No 
mortgages and foreclosures, with their entail 
of woe and broken homes, such as burden 
the accounts of most of the old landlords, 
mar the pages of Samuel Sloper's ledger; 
neither is there any trace of such transac- 
tions with Sloper as plaintiff in the papers 
of Squire Smith. There was rum enough 
to float a navy. But no sheriff's notices 

109 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

ever followed up the book-keeping of this 
old worthy. Where the records are abundant, 
as is the case here, silence would seem to 
become positive evidence. 

Confirmatory of this conclusion is a page 
of entries against one Thomas Lathrop. 
He had bought a yard or two of "Persian," 
a tea kettle and tow cloth, "Shoes, Bees- 
wax and Sugar," saving items in an account 
which was sadly overweighted with charges 
for rum and sugar— a more sinister com- 
bination that bees- wax and sugar. The 
list is long; too long, evidently, in the mind 
of the colonel, who inscribed in diagonal 
lines underneath it all this legend; "don't 
get no more rum til you pay for what you 
have got." The account was presently 
closed, both as to cash and rum. 

Colonel Sloper made his mark on the 
pages of the town history in many ways, 
and his house and store must have been, 
for years, a resort for all lovers of good 
stories, while withal there was resident in 
the old soldier's bosom the spirit of the 
pioneer. His interest in the promotion of 
the settlement of the West belongs not here. 

110 



THE STREET AND THE OLD ARISTOCRACY 

Suffice it to say that his best gift to that 
enterprise was his son and namesake. He him- 
self died possessed of personal and real estate, 
when the encumbrances were deducted, valued 
at only eight hundred dollars. He owned the lot 
opposite his house, where are two modern 
cottages for summer residence.* This lot 
passed, after his death, to Solomon Noble. 

If the truth were all told about the house 
of Samuel Sloper, as of many another man 
who carried on an innholder's license, prob- 
ably it would be learned that there was little 
real public entertaining except that which 
pertained to the wet goods. "Mr. Levi 
Pease Boston" boarded his son there two 
days in the week for a period. John Waldo 
Wood, who had owned the lot to the south 
of Sloper's for a little time, boarded at the 
Sloper house during nine months of the 
year 1780, the bill bsing about one-half 
paid by a barrel of New England rum. Col. 
William Shepard also boarded his son Noah 
there, and returned in payment "Rie" at 
three shillings per bushel, 17 86-' 89. 

The liquor dispensed at Col. Sloper's store, 

* Belonging to W. H. Dexter, of Springfield. 

Ill 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

or tavern, was no small part of the doings 
of those eventful years. It was largely sold 
in quantity, to be taken home, but was 
also mixed and drunk on the premises. 
Rum and brandy were sold by the gallon 
or quart, and flip by the mug. "Sider" was 
made on Sloper's premises, or farm, some- 
where. It is a fair question if brandy, 
at least, were not distilled there also. Flip 
was a most popular drink, and was entered 
continuously upon the ledger. The same 
was true to a less extent of Jedediah Smith, 
and the beverage would be in evidence in 
every other taverner's day-book or ledger, 
if it were only extant. Mrs. Earle says:* 
"Flip was a dearly loved drink of colonial 
times, far more popular in America than in 
England, much different in concoction in 
America than in England, and much superior 
in America — a truly American drink. . . . 
American flip was made in a great pewter 
mug or earthen pitcher filled two-thirds full 
of strong beer; sweetened with sugar, 
molasses or dried pumpkin, according to 
individual taste or capabilities; and flavored 

* Stage Coach and Tavern Days, pp. 108-9. 

112 




(a) Capt. Abner Pease's Tavern 

(middle of group of buildings) 

(b) The Business Centre in the New Village, and the 

Luther Laflin Elm 



THE STREET AND THE OLD ARISTOCRACY 

with a 'dash' — about a gill — of New England 
rum. Into this mixture was thrust and 
stirred a red-hot loggerhead, made of iron 
and shaped like a poker, and the seething 
iron made the liquor foam and bubble and 
mantle high, and gave it the burnt, bitter 
taste so dearly loved." 

In itself alone Samuel Sloper's ledger is 
abundant corroboration of the spirit of lines 
which Edward Field has quoted in the pages 
of his book:* 

"Landlord, to thy bar room skip, 

Make it a foaming mug of flip — 

Make it of our country's staple, 

Rum, New England sugar maple, 

Beer that's brewed from hops and Pumpkins, 

Grateful to the thirsty Bumpkins. 

Hark! I hear the poker sizzle, 

And o'er the mug the liquor drizzle, 

And against the earthen mug 

I hear the wooden spoon's cheerful dub. 

I see thee, landlord, taste the flip; 

And fling thy cud from under lip, 

Then pour more rum, the bottle stopping, 

Stir it again and say it's topping; 

Come, quickly bring the humming liquor, 

Richer than ale of British vicar, 

Better than Usquebaugh Hibernian, 

* The Colonial Tavern 

113 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

Or than Flacus' famed Falernian, 

More potent, healthy, racy, frisky, 

Than Holland's gin or Georgia's whisky. 

Come, make a ring about the fire 

And hand the mug unto the squire; 

Here, Deacon, take the elbow chair, 

And Corporal Cuke, do you sit there; 

You take the dye tub, you the churn, 

And I'll the double corner turn. 

See the fomenting liquor rise 

And burn their cheeks and close their eyes ; 

See the sidling mug incline, 

Hear them curse their dull divine 

Who on Sunday dared to rail 

Against B-'s flip or Downer's ale. 

Quick! landlord, fly and bring another, 

And Deacon H. shall pay for 'tother; 

Ensign and I the third will share — 

It's due on swop for the pyeball mare." 

According to every evidence, this is all 
realistic of the spirit of the day, unless it 
should be said that in Blandford, at least 
until the Revolution, little fault could be 
found with the minister such as was found 
in the doggerel. 

The old Revolutionary hero kept some- 
thing of a stable, and pastured horses and 
stock. Solomon Noble, blacksmith and inn- 



114 



THE STREET AND THE OLD ARISTOCRACY 

keeper, went often to the Sloper place for 
horse and wagon for trips to Louden, Wil- 
liamstown and other places, besides putting 
out his stock in the Sloper pasture. For 
the munificent reward of three shillings, the 
old veteran, in 1788, moved the family of 
David Knox, by means of "Teame & Boy." 
Now and then he turned his hand to odd 
jobs. He carted and laid out John Waldo 
Wood's flax one season for seven pounds 
ten shillings. He seems to have made shoes 
and other garments for his family. At any 
rate he did it for others. For Enos Loomis's 
young son, who was bound out to him, he 
did on this wise: "Caping your Sons Shoes, 
1-3;" "one Bottle Green Coat full trimed 
and made for moses," seven shillings. He 
made several shirts and a frock for the Martin 
Leonard Company. 

The number and kind of things which this 
old veteran and dabster did make an astonish- 
ing list. He was surgeon-in-ordinary to the 
parish of Blandford, and this long before 
ever he had accumulated an army experience. 
Veterinary too he was. The account is 
peppered over with charges for the treat- 

115 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

ment of young horses for the ordinary pur- 
poses of the farm and road. In the account 
of Eliphalet Thompson, in the year 1772, 
along with "frying Pann," tea kettle and 
"1 Pr Sizers," is the charge "To Seting your 
boys rist," twelve shillings. James Sinnet, 
in 1785, became indebted to "Seting your 
knee and Dressings," and "to Sundri Dress- 
ings," four and three shillings respectively. 

Colonel Sloper died in 1802. Thirteen 
years before, an infant daughter was laid 
away, and the two rest side by side without 
other company, in the family burying place. 
Did his widow go to Ohio with Samuel 
Sloper 's son and namesake? The convivi- 
ality of the old tavern and country store 
then, is only part of the story. The boy 
learned something else than to hang round 
the tap-room and drain the sugar from the 
bottom of the mugs. At last the old store 
was shut. The tavern was closed. But 
there went up in the valley of the Scioto a 
thriving town, a church and an academy. 
The street is long. It begins on the hilltop 
of Blandford. The other end is in the Old 
Northwest. 

116 




The Samuel Boies Tavern 



THE STREET AND THE OLD ARISTOCRACY 

No one can at all appreciate the early 
history of Blandford without often calling 
to mind its position along the track of armies. 
Through all the colonial wars and through 
the protracted years of the Revolutionary 
war, fife and drum were familiar sounds, and 
the march of soldiery habitually fired the 
passion of the boys and youth. The taverns 
swarmed with soldiers, and many a muster, 
without a doubt, took place in the old meet- 
ing-house, the ten acres outside being used 
for evolutions. It is of certain record that 
for years during the early history of the 
town this ground was used for the purposes 
of a military parade. Probably because it 
was too uneven and became too cramped for 
such uses, in 1796 the town authorized Reuben 
Boies, Asa Blair, Samuel Knox and Reuben 
Blair, "yeomen," to purchase of Benjamin 
Chapman a plot of ground fronting on the 
town street, in lot 41, about forty-seven rods 
in length and ten rods deep. Henceforth 
this became the historic place for the training 
of the militia. The boundary stones of this 
old parade ground have been built into stone 
walls in the near vicinity.* 

* The lot is opposite the home lot of James P. Nye. 

117 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

Aside from certain exemptions ordered 
by law, every male citizen of eighteen years 
and under forty-five was obliged to perform 
military duty, and was further obligated 
under penalty to provide himself with the 
necessary uniform equipment. The towns 
were required to keep in store a specified 
quantity of powder, balls and other material 
of war. There were practice parades, and 
there was the annual inspection on the first 
Tuesday in May. That was the great day 
in all the year, especially for the boys. Rev. 
Cyrus Hamlin, the famous missionary to the 
Turkish empire and founder of Robert College, 
in his "Life and Times," tells of such a day 
in his boyhood. "Then a regiment turned 

out Everybody went to it. When 

there was a sham fight with the Indians in 
war paint and feathers, it was to us intensely 
exciting." The feathers indeed were not 
missing in the Blandford parades, for I have 
been told that hereabout the domestic fowl 
was almost as fearsome of that day as of 
Thanksgiving. Then there were the re- 
freshment stands, with ginger-bread and 
what-not, and every well regulated household 

118 



THE STREET AND THE OLD ARISTOCRACY 

gave the children the wherewithal to surround 
these stands with the view to their capitula- 
tion. 

There was a law prohibiting officers treat- 
ing on this day. Yet it was a high day for 
the tavern. Chipman Wheaton, of local fame, 
remembered by some to this day, was once 
heard to say concerning the corner tavern 
on one of these occasions, that he himself 
had taken in at that bar three hundred 
dollars. Almost literally everybody was 
drunken before nightfall, officers and all. I 
have a personal letter from a native of the 
town which tells of three officers striking 
hands together at the close of one such day 
and pledging each other to abstinence hence- 
forth, as they saw the melancholy exhibition of 
intoxication all over the field. Of all the 
officers of that regiment, the three were the 
only ones to die sober. 

The Scotch- Irish people were rather dis- 
proportionately inclined to the love of ardent 
spirits, and drunkenness became the curse 
of the town. Following the War for In- 
dependence, inns and places for the retailing 
of liquors mounted up to ten, a dozen, even 

119 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

well along into the 'teens in number. Many 
of the most prominent men in the town were 
engaged in the traffic in liquors, either as 
innholders or retailers. The annual average 
sale was enormous, estimated by different 
authorities of the time or a little later as 
twenty-five to fifty hogsheads, a statement 
without doubt not including hard cider. 

Rev. John Keep, later of national fame as 
one of the builders of Oberlin college, or- 
dained and settled in Blandford in 1805, 
became chaplain of a regiment. His salary 
and his social distinction were in the hands 
of men whose traffic, and in no small measure 
whose habits, more and more provoked his 
disapproval. True prophet that he was, a 
dozen years before the general awakening 
on the subject, he began denouncing these 
things as ungodly and abominable. "On 
one Sabbath the Brigadier General with his 
whole staff and the Colonels and majors of 
the Brigade were present ( at Sunday service) 
as hearers." It was his opportunity, and 
the young prophet failed not of his duty. 
"I gave to the congregation," he says,* 

* In some personal memoirs, kindly loaned me by his grandson, Mr. Wm. J. 
Keep, of Detroit, Mich. 

120 







o o 



THE STREET AND THE OLD ARISTOCRACY 

"as thorough and as severe a sermon as I 
could muster .... The cannonading 
made a commotion, but the effect was good. 
The general officers commended my courage." 

The year when this courageous onslaught 
was made on prevalent drinking habits is 
not given. I have been told that Mr. Keep's 
temperance principles were a moral develop- 
ment of his ministry later than the very 
first. At any rate, what the local feeling 
and custom were on the subject is plain to 
see from a minute in the records of 1808 
when the commissioned officers of the town 
were instructed to "procure at the Expence 
of the Town Two Waggons, one for Each 
Company also for such of the Troops as live 
in Town, for the purpose of carry 8 their 
Baggage to Hadley" and five dollars were 
granted "to be laid out in Spirits for the use 
of the Militia in this Town, under the Direc" 
of the officers." 

Dr. Leonard Bacon, in his "History of 
American Christianity," says* concerning the 
general moral condition of the country at this 
period: "The closing years of the eighteenth 

* P. 231. 

121 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

century show the lowest low-water mark of 
the lowest ebb-tide of spiritual life in the 
history of the American church. The de- 
moralization of army life, the fury of political 
factions, the catch-penny materialistic moral- 
ity of Franklin, the philosophic deism of 
men like Jefferson, and the popular ribaldry 
of men like Tom Paine, had wrought, to- 
gether with other untoward influences, to 
bring about a condition of things which to 
the eye of little faith seemed almost des- 
perate." Blandford boys had begun to enter 
Yale college. Most of the students were 
sceptical; wine and liquors were kept in 
many rooms. Intemperance, profanity, 
gambling and licentiousness were common. 
The boys read Tom Paine and believed him. 
What was going on in Europe exerted a 
powerful influence over them, as it did in 
America in general. Rev. Joseph Badger, 
minister in Blandford during this period, him- 
self an old soldier of no mean repute, had 
been a book-binder. One of his own people, 
in a spirit of raillery, sent him an unbound 
copy of Paine 's works, asking him to bind it. 
The politics of the day were aided and 

122 



THE STREET AND THE OLD ARISTOCRACY 

abetted by the tavern. It not infrequently 
happened that the landlord was an officer of 
the militia. If he was not that, he was more 
than likely to be gentleman or squire. The 
train band was a fit training school for the 
more imposing town meeting. As for the 
routine duties of the parades themselves, 
that they were often far from welcome is 
duly attested. It was so everywhere, and 
local history in this respect conformed to the 
general rule. Among the "dockets" of 
Jedediah Smith, Esq., the following com- 
plaints may serve as a few examples. 

Aug. 14, 1802, John Collester, clerk of the 
company commanded by Seth Parsons, com- 
plained that David Boies, Captain of said 
company, "Drove forth and mustered his 
Said company to improve them in the mili- 
tary art," and Joseph Hills of Blandford 
failed "to appear on the Sixteenth day of 
June at the usual Parade near ( Landlord) 
Sam" Boies 2 d Inkeeper in Said Blandford 
with his arms and Equipments according 
to Law and orders of Said captain" etc. 

"James Henry vs. Davis E. Richards. 
Received and filed November 30, 1805 

123 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

"To Jedediah Smith Esquire one of the 
Justices of the Piece Within and for the 
County of Hampshire 

"James Henry Clerk of the Company of 
foot Commanded by Jonas Johnson Cap* in 
the regiment of militia in the said County of 
Hampshire Commanded by Seth Parsons 
Colonel Commandent Complains as well 
for the said Jonas Johnson for the use of and 
in trust for the Said Company as for himself 
in a plea of debt for that the Said Jonas 
Johnson Cap' as afore Said on the twenty 
six day of Sep' issued his orders to davis E 
Richards acting in the Capasity of Corporal 
to notify and warn the Several persons then 
absence belonging to his District to appear 
on the third day of October at the usual 
parade near the meeting Haus in the said 
Blandford to be improved in the military 
art and the Said Davis E Richards then and 
there in violation of Said Law and the orders 
of Said Cap' and did not warn John King 
according to Law and orders where by and 
by virtue of the Law in Such Cases made 
and provided the Said Davis E Richards 
hath forfeited the sum of twelve Dollars to 

124 



THE STREET AND THE OLD ARISTOCRACY 

be disposed of by Said act is directed and in 
action hath accrued to the Said James 
Henry in his Said Capacity to have and re- 
cover the same to be disposed of as afore 
Said yet though requested the Said Davis E 
Richards hath not paid the same but detains 
it Wherefore your Complainant prays that 
the Said Davis E Richards may be Sumoned 
to appear and shew Cause if any he has Why 
a warrant of distress Should not be issued 
against him pursuant to Law 

James Henry Clerk 
Blandford November 25th, 1805" 

Still another paper by James Henry bears 
witness that a parade was held on Sept. 26, 
1805, and that "Darias Stephans of Blanford 
a privat Soldier in the train band being 
duly enroled in and belonging to Said Com- 
pany and liable to train therein was duly 
warned being more than four days previous 
— duly notified to appear — at the usual 
parade near the meeting House in Said 
Blanford with his armes and equipments 
according to Law," and did not appear so 
armed and equipped. The complainant 
prayed that the defendant be made to appear 

125 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

and answer to a charge of liability to a fine 
of "tin Shillings equal to one dollar and 
Sixty Seven Cents." Dated, Nov. 25, 1806. 

Tradition says that the place opposite the 
new parade ground, which came to be known 
as the Cannon place, was selected by the 
town authorities in the time of the Revolu- 
tion as a quarantine for Tories. The story 
is further that William Cannon, who lived 
there, and carried on a retailer's license, 
according to record, from 1763 to 1767, was 
one of the aforementioned gentry who, feel- 
ing the bitterness of the disgrace in which 
he was held by his fellow citizens on account 
of his political views, called together some 
of his old cronies at the corner tavern, offered 
a last drink together, then went home and 
hanged himself. This individual appears not 
to have deserved the opprobrium which 
tradition has cast upon him, but the story 
suggests certain features of local history in 
the stirring days of '76 and the part which 
the tavern had therein. William Cannon 
was twice selectman in years just preceding 
the Revolution. 

Closely depending upon this central com- 

126 



THE STREET AND THE OLD ARISTOCRACY 

munity, a mile and a half or so to the west- 
ward, was a scattered settlement, known then, 
as now in its more attenuated condition, 
as "the Gore." 

When the proprietors mapped out the 
home settlement lots of sixty acres each, 
they laid them down diagonally on the town 
plot, so that, as the settlement rectangle was 
bounded, it cut athwart some of the farm 
lots of five hundred acres each, making of 
them triangles instead of squares. The Gore 
is located in that one of these lots which 
bears the number 33. It is a right-angled 
triangle, having its long hypotheneuse bound- 
ing the west ends of a baker's dozen of the 
first division lots. Its centre lies about 
midway between Blandford and North Bland- 
ford, but all thought of the North Blandford 
road, as the villagers now know it, must be 
blotted out. The modern mail route through 
North Blandford to Otis, so far as the road 
connecting the two villages is concerned, 
came into being only after the town of 
Blandford was nearly a century old. 

The Gore is a varied tract of hill and inter- 
vale, where two or three little brooks, es- 

127 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

pecially that one which the fathers called 
"the branch," and in modern maps is called 
Bedlam brook, gathering their waters from 
the northerly slopes, hurry them down 
through wide intervales and narrowing 
meadows to Little river. There first Robert 
Blair made his lonely home, left it awhile 
and returned to it again. There too the 
Boieses and Osbornes came, and a few of 
the most attractive homes in the town still 
bear witness at the Gore to the enterprise 
and taste of the progenitors. This neighbor- 
hood was reached by a road, or lane, laid out 
by the town in 1768, opening from the town 
street and running westerly between lots 12 
and 13, belonging to Deacon Matthew Blair 
and William Carnahan respectively.* It ran 
down to an old mill on the brook not far 
from the Berkshire road, now deep in the 
woods. This road has been abandoned for 
perhaps two or three generations and the 
name "Gore road" became transferred to 
that one running westerly into this same 
general locality, departing from the town 
street nearly a mile farther up. This latter 

* Between the house of J. P. Nye and that of the late Mrs. J. S. Porter. 

128 





HI 




'i 


•llf^ 







THE STREET AND THE OLD ARISTOCRACY 

highway was adopted as a county road in 
1773, and was described as running "West- 
ward to the Green Wood Road that leads 
from Westfleld to Great Barrington." Its 
point of juncture was still further described 
as "at the Northwest Corner of the Walnut 
hill." This road avoided North Blandford — 
because there was then no such village — 
and ran up over "Nigger hill," a spur of 
Walnut hill, crossing the stream nearly a mile 
below the present village. It crossed, or 
left, the point in the modern turnpike to 
North Blandford at the spot known as the 
Jerod bars, a reminiscence of the old negro, 
Jerod, or Jared, Cables, who was stable boy 
at the Baird tavern. 

There were other roads accommodating 
the Gore district which need not here detain 
us. They were frequently changing, owing 
to transmutations of business and homes in that 
neighborhood and beyond. Was there ever a 
tavern at the Gore ? Who knows ? The Blairs 
were there, with milling operations at the 
southerly end of the settlement, and there 
were several Blair licensees. Wherever the 
Blairs were in those days things were doing. 

129 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

A little way above the parade ground, on 
the westerly side of the street, was the pound. 
It occupied a knoll, where the bed rock comes 
to the surface, and the wagons rumble over 
it as on a pavement which nature laid mil- 
lenniums ago. Nearly opposite the pound 
was the "Deacon Samuel Boies' home farm," 
still so called in 1791, though David Boies 
had purchased it two years before. From 
this point the road dips down into a meadow, 
or swamp, where the first settlers struggled 
and wallowed for a day, painfully pushing 
on with their baggage to the hill beyond, 
where soon after a log fort was erected for 
the defence of the people against the Indians. 
Easterly from the northerly end of this 
swampy stretch and from the friendly water- 
ing trough there, a hill rises at some distance 
from the road, spattered with some white 
outcropping veins of quartz, like spots of 
lingering snow, giving the hillside a peculiar 
distinction. Where the hill comes down to 
meet the lowland, yet high enough up to 
escape the dampness of the swamp, is still 
an old cellar hole over which David Mc- 
Conoughey — both father and son — lived for 

130 



THE STREET AND THE OLD ARISTOCRACY 

many years after 1745. William Donaghy 
"first Settled and Improved" it, as an old 
deed of sale relates. Near by, mammoth in 
its decrepitude, is a partly dismantled chest- 
nut, grisled and faithful survivor of the days 
of yore. The McConougheys were prom- 
inent citizens of the town, and trusted public 
officers. The next lot, number 36, on that 
side of the street, is on higher ground, and 
the road rises again to traverse a plateau 
nearly sixteen hundred feet in elevation, 
which it sustains for a mile or more. 

This old street must have been the pride 
of the fathers' hearts, "beautiful in situa- 
tion, the joy of the whole earth," like Mount 
Zion. Wherever the forest was sufficiently 
subdued the eye caught vistas of splendid 
landscapes, the hills extending like billow 
upon billow north and east, beyond the 
Woronoco and Connecticut valleys, while 
down the avenue of travel to the south was 
to be seen the old meeting-house seeming to 
stand in the very middle of the street. 

This highway and town street of the fathers 
became a county road as early as 1759. The 
commissioners laid a new road from near 

131 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

the corner tavern up to the meeting-house, 
as the town road had run directly across 
the ten acre lot and on toward West Gran- 
ville. From the tavern the new road ran 
north, 28 degrees west, 28 rods "to the North 
East corner of the meeting house," after 
rounding which it ran "up the main Street 
between the fences Seven hundred and thirty 
two rods," north, eleven degrees west, and 
was to be four rods wide. 

In 1807 the town widened the street. The 
lay-out as reported to the town was as follows : 
"Laid out November 9 th 1807 in Blandford 
a Town road beginning at the east side of 
the Pulpit window of the meeting house in 
said Blandford and running thence in the 
centre of s d road north 14 degrees west about 
nine hundred & Twenty rods, to the North 
Line of the Settlers lotts, Said road to be 
Six rodds in Wedth." This road ran on 
through Becket to Pittsfield. In 1801 it 
had become a part of the Eleventh Massa- 
chusetts Turnpike. 

Lot thirty-six, mentioned above, was the 
connecting link on the east side of the high- 
way between swamp and upland, and ad- 

13 2 



THE STREET AND THE OLD ARISTOCRACY 

mitted of buildings close to the street. This 
lot was drawn in the beginning by Samuel 
Cannon, or Carnahan, and became known 
as "Samuel Carnahans home lot," "on which 
Samuel now lives, "as a deed of 1803 relates, 
though probably concerning a son. In the 
year just named, James Hazzard, "Gentle- 
man," bought the homestead and put up a 
store there, giving a mortgage on it to the 
Boston bank, and in this "new store" he 
sold liquors in accordance with his license 
of 1804 and 1805. The Hazzards operated 
chiefly in the old town of Russell, now known 
as Russell mountain, near Hazzard's pond, 
as Russell pond is still called on the maps. 
James appears not to have been the first 
person to carry on the business there, for 
indications strongly point to this as also 
the spot where James Sinnet conducted a 
similar business in 1788. Joseph Eells suc- 
ceeded Hazzard in 1810 and 1811. He was 
father of Cushing Eells, who became the co- 
laborer of Marcus Whitman and the founder 
of Whitman college. The Eells home, how- 
ever, for the most part, was on the farm at 
the foot of Birch hill. But the corner of the 

133 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

lot where the store was, on the town street, 
is known to this day among elderly people 
as Eells' hill. Joseph Eells sold to John 
Gibbs in 1812. 

The business stand just described is re- 
ferred to in one of the deeds as located near 
"landlord Boies 's line." Hazzard was not 
very successful. Strange indeed would it have 
been if everybody, even in those bibulous 
days, when builders raced with one another 
to finish a public house before a competitor 
should get the trade, should have avoided 
insolvency. 

This Boies's tavern, or inn, stood, and still 
stands, just to the north of the now smoothed 
and grass-grown Eells' hill,* a fine old two- 
story house, with a large front room on either 
side of the stairway which opens out of the 
traditional, small, rectangular hall, and spans 
the distance between the floors by several 
angular turns. The old tavern stands broad- 
side to the street, front door facing the same, 
the old bar-room door being on the southwest 
corner, on the gable end looking down the 
street to the meeting-house. 

This inn was for years one of the stopping- 

* Mr. Amos Loomis now resides there. 

134 



THE STREET AND THE OLD ARISTOCRACY 

places for stages on the Boston and Albany 
route. Tradition is strangely silent about 
this old caravansary, but the records are 
beyond the possibility of a doubt. In the 
bar-room of this inn the unfortunate Hazzard 
parted with his store and thirty acres of land 
under sheriff's sale, Barnabas Whitney being 
deputy and, apparently, auctioneer.* The 
builder of this substantial piece of architec- 
ture, — entirely plain except the line of fine, 
cubical beading just under the eaves, — is 
subject of conjecture, but there is approxi- 
mate solution of the problem. The lot (No. 
35,) was drawn at first by Israel Gibbs, from 
whom it passed to his son Isaac, who in turn 
sold it to Warham Parks, "of Westfield," in 
1780. The instrument runs thus: The par- 
cel of land "being of the settling lots in said 
Town & is the same whereon I now live & is 
lot Number Thirty five in the first division 
with a Mansion House and barn standing on 
the same and is bounded westwardly and 
northerly f by the street or highway and 
southerly by Sam" Carnahan's home lot con- 

* The estate passed to Samuel Knox, at that time the mortgagee, for fifteen 

dollars, 
t A road bounded the northerly side of this lot, as given in the town records 

in 1750, It has been long since obliterated. 

135 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

taining by estimation sixty acres more or 
less." The date of the deed is Feb. 14, 1780, 
from which it would appear that the house 
is older than that, and was possibly built 
by Isaac Gibbs. However that may be, 
there is an interesting tradition concerning it 
and two other houses in the immediate vicinity. 
It is but a stone's throw from this house 
to that of Deacon Amasa L. Stewart, across 
the way, in lot 19; and it is but another 
long stone's throw from the latter to the 
house of Roscoe Ripley, the site of Job 
Almy's tavern for many years in the early 
nineteenth century, the tavern itself having 
burned to the ground some years ago. The 
Almy house was on the northeast corner of 
the old town street and the Northampton 
road, the Stewart house being about half 
way between the other two buildings, but 
on the opposite side of the street. The 
Stewart house bears all the marks of age 
which characterize the Boies tavern. The 
story is that these three houses were build- 
ing at the same time, and that the builders 
were running a race with each other to 
finish first, as each house was intended for 

136 



THE STREET AND THE OLD ARISTOCRACY 

an inn. The northernmost house was said 
to be first completed and so got the business, 
thus ruining the chances of the other two. 

It will be remembered that Warham Parks 
was cited as of Westfield when he purchased 
the estate which afterward became the Samuel 
Boies tavern, and that he had already been 
living on the place before he bought it. 
This gentleman, who was "of Westfield" only 
by virtue of a long reminiscence, wielded a 
wide influence in Blandford during the fifteen 
or twenty years when he was in the town. 
He carried a license from 1780 to 1783, but 
just where, it is not easy to affirm. It would 
appear that for a part of the time he con- 
ducted business in the northeast part of the 
town, where the Parks home farm was, in 
the five-hundred-acre lot, No. 39. But so 
remote a section, bustling though it then 
was, could not long satisfy so moving and 
ambitious a spirit, and he very soon began 
to operate in the heart of the community. 
It is a curious fact that he possessed himself 
of every one of the three actual, or would-be, 
tavern sites about which the significant 
tradition just recited has come down, and 

137 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

at the very time when the events related 
are most likely to have happened. In 1780 
he was living in the southernmost of the 
three. The tradition declares the winner 
of the building race to have been a man by 
the name of Beard. The northernmost place, 
afterward the Almy lot, was known as the 
Beard lot, having been originally drawn by 
James Beard, an Englishman, in 1737. He 
passed a part of it on to his son James, Jr., 
selling forty-four acres to Warham Parks, 
in 1782, for one hundred and fifty pounds 
in silver, the same "having thereon standing 
an Old House and Barn." This lot was on 
the corner, and Beard speaks of it as the 
place where he "formerly lived," implying 
that he was not then living there. Parks 
parted with it to Samuel Crooks Gibbs three 
years later, naming as one of the special 
privileges of the conveyance the use of the 
"Bagg well" in the lot opposite. There was, 
it seems, some water consumed, even then. 

The lot midway between, and across the 
street, known as the Brown lot, passed from 
Solomon and William Brown to Elisha Parks, 
in 1769. It had on it a "Dwelling House 

138 



THE STREET AND THE OLD ARISTOCRACY 

& Barn," probably a humbler abode than 
the competitor of the two taverns. Just 
when Warham Parks took possession of it 
I am unable to say, but in 1787 he sold it to 
"Samuel Boies 2 nd Innholder." That was 
two years after the latter had bought the 
tavern stand so long to be operated by him 
and his son. It was held by the Boises 
nearly forty years, when it passed by an 
execution sale held in the corner tavern, — 
Isaac Lloyd being landlord, — to Luther Laf- 
lin. Years after, this lot became known 
as Luther Laflin's bear lot. It was in this 
house that the tragedy occurred which 
occasioned the melancholy inscription on a 

headstone in the old burying ground : 
In memory 
Miss Betsey Boies 
Dauf of Mr Samuel & 
Mrs Elizabeth Boies 
who died July 18'* 
1814 aged 18 years. 
She died of a burn rec'd while a 
sleep by the inflamd Bedcloths 
suppos'd to be accidentally set on 
fire by her candle. 
There can hardly be any doubt that Parks 
improved his license, which by the way, was 

139 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

a retailer's, a part of the time at least in one 
or more of these three houses. Perhaps he 
was the builder of all three, the tradition 
serving to reflect simply the feverish impulse 
which was given to this class of business in 
these earliest years of stage travel and re- 
covery from the incubus of war. Previous 
to the period of the three-tavern tradition, 
in 1779, Major Parks owned lot 25, after- 
ward in possession of Isaac Gibbs, "lying 
about two Miles and one half North from 
the Meeting House in s d Town & lies partly 
on the East & partly on the West side of the 
County Road running through said Town 
to Becket," "having thereon standing a 
Mansion House & Barn." But this too, as 
subsequent events proved, was too far north 
of the centre of life to satisfy so commanding 
a spirit. 

There was scarcely a dignity to which his 
fellow citizens did not feel themselves honored 
in promoting Warham Parks. For five con- 
secutive years he was selectman, when such 
material was easy to find. He was one of 
the most popular of moderators of town 
meetings in a period when legal and forensic 

140 



THE STREET AND THE OLD ARISTOCRACY 

abilities abounded and politics was both a 
business and a pastime. He was chairman 
of a committee to seat the meeting-house, 
and of a large committee of local notables 
to extend a call to Rev. Aaron Crosby; was 
chairman also of a committee to build pews, 
and of another committee to dispose at 
public sale of the unimproved lands of the 
town. But his reign was short. He re- 
turned to Westfield and died there, possessed 
of a considerable estate. 

There was still another licensed bar, from 
1785 to 1792, in the' midst of this cauldron of 
business and social ferment. It was run by 
John Gibbs, son of Israel. His "Homelot" 
was wedged in between the two tavern lots 
on the east side of the street. He may not 
have been as prominent a member of society 
as some of the others, but he was a selectman 
in 1781. A generation later there was a 
store on this lot, at the northwest corner, 
and there may have been one much earlier. 
Still another retailer's license — and therefore 
probably also another general store — was 
carried on by Samuel Blair, son of Rufus 
and Dolly, in 1810, in a half-acre in the 

141 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

northeast corner of lot 17. This little spot 
had a kaleidoscopic career of ownership and 
eclat. Blair was known as a "trader," and 
so must have done considerable business; 
but his place was sold over his head by 
Deputy Sheriff Asa Smith, at public sale, 
at the house of Eleazer Slocum, the corner 
tavern, to James Babcock, blacksmith. 

In 1779, and for four or five years there- 
after, Deacon William Boies was selling 
strong drinks under a retailer's license in the 
busy part of the town street, namely, in lot 
21, just above the Baird lot, on the opposite 
side of the street. 

There were at least seventeen licensed 
innholders and retailers in the town of Bland- 
ford in the year 1784. In Springfield, in 
that year, there were less than thirty. Noth- 
ing in the world could have added more 
dignity to the business than the prestige 
already borne by the men who conducted 
it on this street. Old Matthew Blair had 
held the office of deacon steadily and 
honorably, and was familiarly known as 
"Elder Blair." Samuel Boies, who died Sept. 
4, 1804, was, as his tombstone impressively 

142 



THE STREET AND THE OLD ARISTOCRACY 

tells us, "a ruling Elder of Christ Church 
in Blandford more than 40 years." Both 
the Boieses represented their town at the 
General Court, William, himself also a deacon, 
consecutively for many years, and was town 
clerk for eleven years without a break. The 
two Boieses were moderators of town meet- 
ings without number, and when a Bill of 
Rights was framed by the people, Deacon 
William was charged by his fellow-citizens 
with the honor of representing them. 

This section of the old town street was a 
busy and important centre of life for many 
years. There were at least a blacksmith 
shop or two and a school-house there. Three 
or four stores were in this close vicinity, 
and in 1830 the Protestant Episcopal society 
built a church edifice opposite Job Almy's 
tavern, on the west side of the town street. 
John Ferguson lived in the lot opposite the 
Boies tavern until his death. Unless there 
was a second John Ferguson* of whom there 
is not particular record, this man was the 
redoubtable captain of the minute-men of 
1776. Rev. Joseph Badger lived just south 

* There were so many lots in widely separated sections of the town in 
possession of an owner, or owners, bearing this name, that some 
doubt may possibly rest on the absolute identification. 

143 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

of what is now known as the Gore road, 
but which was then called the "High Way from 
Blandford Street to y e Greenwoods Road," 
or, the "County road leading from the Street 
westward." Mr. Badger sold out in 1795 
to Dr. Joseph Wadsworth Brewster forty- 
four acres with a "Mansion House and a 
Barn," the latter selling also, in part, ten 
years later, to another physician, Dr. Nathan 
Blair. Farther down the street, opposite 
the parade ground, Dr. Charles H. Little 
was living in 1811. 

On the two miles between the meeting- 
house and Prospect hill was almost every- 
thing one could think of to make a community 
self-respecting and aggressive: men of civic 
influence, military dignity and ecclesiastical 
power; meeting-house, school-house, shops, 
stores, taverns, the pound, the military 
parade and the old fort. Just below the 
Boies inn, between that popular resort and 
Pound hill, on the causeway — originally the 
fateful swamp — the young men of a later 
generation used to go on Saturday after- 
noons to speed their horses, not with sulkies, 
but on horseback. Whatever was doing, 

144 



THE STREET AND THE OLD ARISTOCRACY 

this was the center for fun and business, 
and the tavern was the headquarters. The 
Boies tavern ran under a license, for father 
and son, covering an uninterrupted period 
of twenty-nine years, beginning, according 
to the county records, in 1787. Job Almy's 
license began much later, extending from 
1807 to 1826. That house was a two-story 
building, and very long. Almy kept a store 
and bought considerable real estate in the 
vicinity of his house as well as elsewhere. 
His name is still familiar among those in- 
itiated into the secrets of the past. For a 
considerable period of years the Episcopal 
society met regularly at his house or store 
for the transaction of their annual business. 

What these pages have recorded of tavern 
life is scarcely more than a skeleton, and an 
incomplete one at that. Loaded stages 
passed up and down this street, as trains 
pull in and out of some central railroad 
town to-day. The street was full of life. 
Those scenes and sounds are so much of the 
past that some old residents of to-day doubt 
the facts which records of court and county 
registers indubitably prove, while from one 

145 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

and another the traditions are gleaned which 
together fit so strangely into the things of 
record and send back faint echoes of genera- 
tions we fain would know more about. 



146 



Chapter Six 

The New Aristocracy and the 
New Village 

WHILE all this aristocracy was 
holding its tenure in the heart of the 
old street, affairs were by no 
means stagnating down on the Albany road. 
Below the meeting-house, on this road, the 
leaven of change was working. A few men were 
there who had the spirit of prophecy and were 
capable 1 of doing things. Just why they 
chose this scene of operations it would seem 
easy to guess. With land held pretty tightly 
up town, there was unimproved and saleable 
property on the great route of through travel 
lower down, and located on such wise as to 
promise development. So, before the Revo- 
lutionary period was well over, a new era of 
business activity began to dawn, and when 
peace was well established the progress be- 
came vigorous. Men of business, all of them 
innkeepers or having a retail license, all land 
speculators, all men of influence in town 
affairs, came in to develop that section of the 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

old home lots which in later generations has 
constituted the village of Blandford. 

One of these men was Timothy Hatch. 
He seems to have come to town in or about 
the year 1781, when he purchased thirty 
acres, being the eastern part of lot 47, first 
division, the second lot below John Boies's, 
"with a Dwelling House," and is written 
down in the deed as of Hartford.* The L 
of the present house is very old, and may 
not improbably be that where Timothy 
Hatch first took up his abode. His license 
appears to have begun in that same year. 

The next indication of him is in a deed of 
March 1, 1785, wherein is conveyed to 
"Timothy Hatch Merchant" about an acre 
of land "on the north side of the Albany 
road so Called," the same being the southwest 
corner of the old Pease farm, and adjoining 
on the west the tavern property of Justus 
Ashmun. The plot had a frontage of four- 
teen rods. Hatch probably built a house 
there that spring. In any case there was 
one there when he sold the place to John 
Robbins, June 27 of the same year. That 

* The location corresponds with the homestead of Edward Dunlap, re- 
cently the home of Howard P. Robinson. 

148 





Tavern Sign of Rufus Blair and Samuel Porter 
Supposed First Tavern (left section of house) of Timothy Hatch and 

HIS SUCCESSORS 



THE NEW ARISTOCRACY 

gentleman held it for only a year or two, 
when (1786) it became the property of 
Russell Attwater.* In this same year Hatch 
bought fifty acres of the Pease farm.f 

While everybody smelled of the soil in those 
days, and Hatch doubtless was no exception, 
this deal, it may be safely guessed, was not pri- 
marily for farming purposes. The house on the 
corner of the old second division road, J as it 
was called for many years, (beginning with the 
ministry of John Keep, the parsonage,) must 
have been built at about this time. It seems 
almost certain that the builder was Timothy 
Hatch, who was living in it in 1793, in which 
year he gave a mortgage on it to Russell Att- 
water, already a rising and successful merchant. 
The instrument is interesting. It describes 
the lot as bounded southerly on "the 
great road from Westfield to Great Barring- 
ton," otherwise called the Albany road, 
west on Attwater, north on Lieut. William 
Knox, Jr., to whom Hatch had sold three 

* This plot corresponds very nearly with the present house lot of Miss 
Electa B. Watson. 

t The part conveyed had for its southeastern bound the road to the second 
division, so called, long since disused, but discernible just easterly 
of the house of Enos W. Boise. Its southwestern bound was the 
Albany road, now the village street. Its northwestern bound was 
an extension of the corresponding bound of the acre-lot with house, 
and the remaining bounds were coterminous with the lines of the 
original northern boundary of lot 43 in its extreme eastern part and 
the easterly ends of lots 4.3, 44, and a small part of 45. 

X By which was meant the road leading to the second division. 

149 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

acres of the northernmost corner of his fifty 
acres, and east "on the Road called the Second 
division road;" fourteen acres, with "house, 
barn, merchants store Hatters Shop and 
pot Ash Works thereon standing." 

Here is something illuminating in tracing 
the growth of this thriving community in 
the closing years of the eighteenth century. 
From 1781 and onward Hatch's license had 
been a retailer's. That year and thence- 
forward to the close of the century he had 
an innholder's license, and he was living in 
this same house in 1800, as of record in 
another deed of mortgage to Jonathan 
Dwight, Esq., and Jonas Nut Dwight Marshal 
of Springfield. The increasing through travel 
over this principal artery of the common- 
wealth invited business. 

In all these years Timothy Hatch had not 
escaped the notice and public favor of his 
fellow-citizens, and was often occupying 
public station. He was "Ensign Timothy 
Hatch" until the year 1793, when the more 
enviable title of "Captain" was accorded 
to him. Throughout this period he was 
moderator of public assemblies galore, and 
several times selectman. He was the first 

150 



THE NEW ARISTOCRACY 

postmaster the town had. In the church 
he was a not uninfluential adherent. Once 
he was appointed on that ever important 
committee charged with the delicate duty 
of seating the meeting-house. At this par- 
ticular time (1792) indeed, two-thirds of 
the committee were innkeepers. 

There was a hatter's shop on this corner. 
The business was passed along from father 
to son. The potash works were not the only 
establishment of the kind in the town. 
Timothy Hatch was not a man of one idea. 
Builder, innkeeper, merchant, manufacturer 
in at least two different enterprises, post- 
master and man of affairs was he. It is not 
germane to the present inquiry to follow 
the Hatches, father and son, into all their 
real estate deals. But it is pertinent to 
discover, so far as may be, how these men 
and others, landlords or of similar craft, 
operated as leaders in the working out of 
town and village life. 

The old John Boies farm, — and indeed, 
practically the same might be said of the 
other farms in the neighborhood — began to 
be so divided and subdivided and the old 

151 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

boundaries ignored, that hereabout the primi- 
tive divisions into sixty-acre home lots had 
become a thing of the past. The crossing of 
these lots obliquely by the road hastened the 
process. In 1791 John Follet, who had ob- 
tained possession the previous year of the 
John Boies house, sold the same, with three 
acres of land, to Solomon Noble, a black- 
smith, whose activity in the new movements 
was also a considerable factor. Noble moved 
into the house and built, or had, his shop 
there, but sold the whole estate the next 
year after he bought it, to Timothy Hatch. 
The latter presently rented the same to 
Walter Shepard, who finally bought it in 
1794, with the shop and three acres of land. 
This lot had thirty rods frontage on the 
street, the house standing in the centre. 
Walter Shepard also was a hatter. Who 
built the hat shop is not of record, but not 
improbably Hatch erected it for Shepard, 
who continued to live and carry on his busi- 
ness there until his death, a few years later. 
The place became familiarly known as the 
Walter Shepard place, and Widow Shepard 
continued to live there for some years, when 

152 



THE NEW ARISTOCRACY 

it was finally sold to Joseph Bull, innkeeper. 

Amid all the commotion and parley of 
business, public affairs and things masculine 
generally, it is a relief and an uplift to arrive 
at a little spot where domestic quietness and 
humble toil are given their peculiar and ap- 
propriate place. During all the years of 
Walter Shepard's residence in this humble 
home, and his application to his own daily 
work in the shop close by the house, as well 
as in the frequent mention in the deeds of 
"widow Shepard," it is refreshing to remember 
that after all, if there were no such oases, 
if a community were not mostly made up 
of the unnamed and unheralded, there would 
be nothing to say of the leaders. There 
would be no leaders, since there would be 
no rank and file. In all the hubbub of 
trade, traffic and promotion, the women and 
children are mostly silent and forgotten. 
After all, the chief part of the history is 
unwritten. 

In 1814, the hatter's shop and the little 
house beside it became the property of 
Timothy L. Hatch, son of Timothy, after 
brief possession by Joseph Bull, Russell 

153 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

Attwater and William Ashley. The elder 
Hatch meantime appears to have removed 
again to his former residence in Hartford, 
but not until he had left still further witness 
of his building activity. On another little sec- 
tion of the old John Boies farm, on the south- 
west of the four corners— the same being 
constituted by the intersection of the Albany 
road with that to the second division on the 
one hand, and the road to the east parish in 
Granville (now Sunset rock road) on the 
other — and just opposite the tavern, on half 
an acre of ground, a "new house" was built. 
That was about 1800. It was owned and 
probably built by the two Hatches. It 
stands on a high bank. There is no well 
there. Building in such a place, when land 
was plenty, adds emphasis to the real estate 
boom which was on when the eighteenth 
century had grown old. 

Things went lively in the taverns and 
licensed stores in those days. We might 
add, at the blacksmith shops as well. Drunken 
brawls were not infrequent, and many a 
fortune that was made was lost again. It 
seems a little unjust to single out one from 

154 



THE NEW ARISTOCRACY 

another for illustration. There is some pleas- 
ure, however, in selecting Timothy L. Hatch 
in such a connection, because of the stiff 
fight which he put up against his too fervent 
love of strong drink; and, it would appear, 
he nobly won in the end. The Hatches 
seemed not to have been able long to hold 
what property they acquired and developed. 
Wherever they were, the lawyer and sheriff 
had plenty of business. Timothy L. Hatch 
is still well remembered as an old man by 
some of the elderly ones in town. He was 
communicative and social, and loved to 
make an excuse of bringing a neighbor's 
mail to sit down and chat with his old friends. 
He went by the nickname of "Old Rorum," 
for whatever reason is left now to conjecture. 
Hardly had the father and son built their 
new house* on the high bank at the corner, 
than they were obliged to part with it. The 
day was January 11, 1802; the place, "the 
House of Solomon Noble Innholder in Blan- 
ford," the parsonage of later date. It was 
at three in the afternoon, and the logs were 
crackling in the fireplace while the men of 
the town were gathered by it and in front 

* Now the summer house of Irving A. Quimby. 

155 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

of the bar to put up bids or watch and listen 
to those who should venture, as Deputy 
Sheriff Parsons Clapp announced the sale 
and called for offers. The execution had 
been served by Jonathan Dwight, Esq., and 
James Scott Dwight, merchants. There was 
already a mortgage to Eli P. Ashmun, and 
this sale was that of the right in equity to 
redeem the property. Solomon Noble was 
the buyer, for $217. * The Hatches managed 
to keep some kind of hold on the estate for a 
couple of years longer, when they sold what 
they could claim of it for $200 to the D wights, 
who in turn conveyed it to Dr. Joseph B. 
Elmore. 

In 1823 Timothy L.'s hat shop was the 
subject of attack, this time by the State of 
Connecticut, which had a mortgage on it. 
This attachment, or sale, is described as 
follows: "part of a Hatters Shop situate in 
Blandford is s d County near the dwelling 
House of the said Timothy L., to wit, The 
South room on the lower floor of said shop 
and so much of the North room on the lower 
floor as is South of a line drawn from the 

* Vol. 40, p. 391, Springfield Registry of Deeds. 

156 



THE NEW ARISTOCRACY 

South side of the East door to the bottom 
of the stud next South of the Northeast 
corner post."* And again, that very same 
year, part of the chamber and garret were 
similarly dealt with.f 

The train of conditions which led to these 
troubles is plainly enough revealed in the 
records of the church. It was in 1824 that 
Hatch was confronted with the charge of 
"having on a public day been guilty of making 
too free an use of ardent spirits, ' ' and confessed 
his weakness, "both to individuals and before 
the church." In this confession he is made 
to say that he has been "somewhat addicted 
to the Sin of Intemperance," an acknowledg- 
ment the truth of which was emphasized by 
the necessity of a repetition of the disciplinary 
process four years later. On that occasion 
he pleaded, in his confession, "I think I 
have now a more penitent state of mind & 
more humility than when I fell before." 
The church was forbearing, but the necessity 
for temperance reform was lying heavily on 
the conscience of the religious community, 
and as more complaints were coming in 

* Registry of Deeds, Vol. Ex. F, p. 61. 
t Id., p. 74. 

157 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

against the habits of Mr . Hatch, the church 
passed a resolution in 1831 suspending him 
from good standing and the privilege of the 
sacrament. In this category of discipline he 
appears to have remained three years, "faint 
yet pursuing," until at last he averred that 
for more than a year he had entirely ab- 
stained from the use of intoxicants, and was 
willing to become a member of the Temper- 
ance Society, whereupon he was received 
again into good standing with his brethren 
"without doubtful disputation." All this was 
under the ministry of that stern disciplina- 
rian, Rev. Dorus Clarke. This entry of 
triumph on the part of Timothy L. Hatch 
has no sequel in the records. His was an 
interesting character and career, and the 
final entry stands to the credit of his manhood. 
The individual whose career of struggle 
we have followed for a little was by no means 
a solitary example of the prevalent evils of 
the time in Blandford. Nor is it to be in- 
ferred that the new village was more rife 
with it than the old aristocracy on the hill. 
Rev. Joseph Badger made entry of date, 
November 20, 1787, to the effect that at a 

158 



THE NEW ARISTOCRACY 

meeting of the session at his house, the elders 
present being William Boies, Samuel Boies, 
John Knox and Robert Lloyd — all licensees 
at one time or another — "Capt William Knox 
& William Mitchel voluntarily appeared and 
confessed themselves to have been overtaken 
in the heinous sin of drunkenness, & signified 
their willingness to manifest their repentance 
by publickly confessing their sin." Under 
the ministry of Mr. Keep, Samuel Boies was 
arraigned for similar offences. Asahel Water- 
man fell under like charge. In 1820 Asa 
Blair was joined to the procession and made 
manful acknowledgment. Eleven years later 
David Allyn did the same. These incidents 
are but symptoms of the disease of the body 
politic, carrying with them as well the evi- 
dence of protest and reform. The people 
were not given over to utter debauchery. 
There was self respect, there was religion, 
there was leaven in the lump. 

To revert again to tavern vendues, one 
unfortunate victim was one Samuel Beach, 
who lived in the east part of the town. The 
plaintiffs were George H. Sylvester of Chester- 
field and Fordyce Sylvester of Blandford, 

159 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

"both traders and joint dealers in Merchandise 
under the firm name of G. H. Sylvester and 
Son." Fordyce Sylvester had a retailer's 
license in town in the years 1818 to 1821. 
Judgment had been obtained at the court of 
common pleas on the fourth Monday of 
August, 1820, in the sum of $131.80, and 
$8.80 additional to cover costs of court. 
The document bears the signature of Alanson 
Knox, Justice of the Peace, who was living 
in the old Eli P. Ashmun house, and doing a 
law business in the lower village. David 
Collins, Jr., deputy sheriff, made affidavit, 
Sept. 19, 1820, that he had taken "One Hog, 
and two Shoats and seven Sheep." The same 
day, having already advertised the property, 
he sold it at public vendue at the dwelling 
house of George Bradley, an old gambrel- 
roof house, standing where now stands the 
Methodist church parsonage. "Sold the 
Hog," the record runs, "to Alanson Knox of 
Blandford in s d County" for $4.74, each of 
the shoats for one dollar to John Sibley of 
Westfield, and the sheep to Logan Crosby of 
Blandford, for 68 cents each. Real estate 
as appraised by John Noble, Logan Crosby 

160 



THE NEW ARISTOCRACY 

and Prentice B. Cook, was set off to the 
creditors for use and improvement by them 
"for six years and no more," which looks as 
if those enterprising merchants contemplated 
running a store in that distant section of the 
town. 

The story of tavern vendues and church 
discipline has been a long digression, but a 
needful one to reveal a little of the life of the 
times under review. When the sale was over, 
of course the drinks went round, and to the 
whole affair, aside from sorrow or joy at- 
tending the settlement of legal troubles, 
there was added occasion for visiting, enter- 
tainment, and to drive dull care away until 
it should come round again to be similarly 
treated. 

In a biographical article upon Rev. Mr. 
Keep, President Fairchild said that there 
was a "famous ball" given on the evening of 
Rev . John Keep's ordination, ' 'the young people 
expecting a stern rebuke from the pulpit on 
the following evening." He added that the 
rebuke did not come, but instead, "Mrs. 
Keep invited the young women of the parish 
to gather at her house to form a reading 

161 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

circle." This young woman, as matter of 
fact, was not for eight months to become 
a bride, and was hardly likely to do at that 
time what she is said to have done. But 
that such a circle was afterwards formed by 
the aid of Mrs. Keep and her unmarried 
sisters Mr. Keep himself bore witness. The 
young men presently found the ball-rooms 
becoming deserted, and themselves sought 
and obtained entrance to the literary gather- 
ings. While convivialities and execution 
sales were going on at the taverns, other 
influences were at work, and so the life of 
the town and the village developed, as it 
always develops everywhere, with good and 
bad elements commingled. What the trend 
in general was the sequel may show. 

When Timothy Hatch left the little old 
house a half mile down the road for his larger 
enterprises nearer town, he sold the old 
place to Robert Blair, who may very likely 
have lived there a couple of years. The 
Blair clan in those days would hardly have 
known themselves without one or more fond 
fathers of the Christian name of Robert 
passing the same along down the generations 

162 



THE NEW ARISTOCRACY 

to promising sons, with the result that it 
now becomes difficult or impossible to dis- 
tinguish one Robert from another. The old 
deacon had a brother, Robert, who lived 
until 1802, and he and Matthew both had 
sons of that name, and there were, or came 
to be, Robert Blair, Senior, Junior, Second, 
Third and Fourth. The Blair genius was for 
building and operating mills, but for a time 
Robert, Senior, and Robert, Junior, from 
whichever branch of the fertile tree they may 
have sprung, were much in evidence with the 
Hatches and the rest who were building a 
new community to rival the old aristocracy 
which abode on the wind-swept heights of 
the town street. 

In 1787 John Robbins sold thirteen acres 
of land to Robert Blair, Jr., south of the 
Second division road and of the road to East 
Granville, and on both sides of the main 
road up "from Westneld to Blandford meet- 
ing house," as some of the deeds have it. 
This lot of land surrounded, but did not 
include, the John Boies, or Walter Shepard, 
house, with its three acres and changing 
owners. The B lairs were now at the four 

163 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

corners, where for years there was a deal of 
business, speculation and drinking, with all 
the history, comedy and tragedy which those 
things involved. It is all like the complicated 
movements of men on a chess board. Busi- 
ness was built up and ruined; homes were 
made and darkened. It was a veritable 
maelstrom. 

Robert Blair, Jr., is credited, in the record 
of general sessions, with an innholder's license 
in 1784 and '85, and from 1790 to '93, while 
to Robert Blair is given a license in 1787 and 
y 88. Father and son were without doubt 
closely associated. It is impossible always 
to distinguish between them in the records. 
One of the various Roberts had possession 
of the Hatch tavern for a little while, but 
not of the hat shop. Then the former 
passed to Russell Attwater, in 1794, who in 
turn sold it to Solomon Noble, in 1796. 
Ownership of this tavern was no more uneasy 
than that of most other houses on this corner. 

Out of the thirteen acres bought by Blair, 
Vassal White, son of Dr. John White, bought 
a corner lot fronting one hundred feet on the 
main road and fifty feet on the Second 

164 



THE NEW ARISTOCRACY 

division road, and lived in his own house 
there, whether built by himself or by Blair. 
He was a clock-maker. In the winter of 
1794 this gentleman leased his place for two 
years, beginning Feb. 1 of that year, to 
Robert Blair 4th, who was a cardboard 
maker.* 

It thus appears that there were two or 
three houses and barns on this corner, of 
which every trace has long since passed 
away, with their every tradition. In May 
of this same year Robert Blair sold to Att- 
water all his possessions on these corners. 
They included three houses and two barns on 
and below the corner between the main and 
Granville roads, and "a store across the 
way." These three houses and other build- 
ings, it would appear, Robert Blair, inn- 
keeper, was instrumental in putting up. 
But just exactly where the tavern was, or 

* The property is thus described: "my (White's) present dwelling house 
situate five rods Easterly of Robert Blair Jr. present dwelling House 
with all the privileges thereunto belonging with the Garden ad- 
joining East and North of said house and all its privileges." V. 
Vol. 31, p. 753, Springfield Registry. As the roads here run diago- 
nally to the four cardinal points, the phraseology is a little blind. 
The "five rods Easterly of Robert Blair Jr." may indicate the Hatch 
tavern on the opposite corner, in which case the garden spoken of 
would be situate to the southeast and northeast of the house — its 
natural position. Eight days previous to this lease, Robert Blair 
gave a mortgage of his "dwelling house, barn and all other build- 
ings." Vol. 32, p. 682 

165 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

where the taverns were, in all these years, 
it seems impossible to say. William Thomp- 
son preceded the Blairs in holding real estate 
on this corner, and he maintained a license 
in 1785, not improbably hereabout. 

Russell Attwater was not strictly an inn- 
holder, but a licensed retail dealer. Never- 
theless, he may not inappropriately find 
mention here. He was a man of large busi- 
ness capacity, amassed a fortune, and finally 
became proprietor of a western town, to use 
the nomenclature of the time. The town of 
Russell, New York, is named for him. He 
was a man of some education. He wrote a 
good letter in an easy hand. He was largely 
influential in the affairs of this town while 
he was here. Like Justus Ashmun, he be- 
came a squire. He acquired the military 
title of Major, and was promoted to the full 
enjoyment of town honors such as were 
usually bestowed on men of his class. His 
purchase of Timothy Hatch's house near 
the old corner tavern has been noticed. His 
conveyances of real estate, as buyer and 
seller, run into the scores. Obliged at first 
to mortgage his property heavily, he cleared 

166 



THE NEW ARISTOCRACY 

away such incumbrances and loaned money 
somewhat largely on local real estate, and 
these dealings had chiefly to do with property 
in that part of the village where Timothy 
Hatch had preceded him by a little. Par- 
ticularly, he operated in three of the four 
corners where the Hatches also so largely 
invested, the one corner which he seemed 
to let alone being the house on the high bank 
opposite the tavern. 

We found Robert Blair, in 1785, ensconsed 
in the little house down the road, where 
Hatch first kept tavern. In 1794, Robert 
Blair, Jr., sold this property to Rufus Blair. 
Now Rufus was also an innholder. He had 
a retailer's license in 1785, and an innholder 's 
in 1791; sometimes one and sometimes the 
other until, and including, 1794. It looks 
as if this little house had been continuously 
a place of entertainment, or lodging, or 
both, from the time that Timothy Hatch 
bought it. Samuel Porter purchased this 
property in 1790. But he also owned a 
house near that of Judah Bement, and in 
1794, bought a little more land adjoining 
it, fronting six rods "on the great road," 

1.67 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

and two rods deep, about the same time also 
mortgaging his other property back to Rufus 
Blair. Thelatter's license expired in 1794, 
and Porter began in the year following. 

There is an old tavern sign, even yet in 
good preservation, with date, 1795, upon 
the top, and bearing the legend, "Potters 
Inn." Behind these words can be read in 
fainter lettering, "Rufus Blair." Porter was 
evidently Blair's successor in the business, 
and bought the same. The sign is a precious 
relic, the only one of the kind out of scores 
that first and last must have swung over 
the turnpikes and thoroughfares of Bland- 
ford. It is interesting as illustrating the 
attempt at artistic and patriotic appeal to 
the wayfarer in its decoration. On either 
side of the swinging sign, in the centre, is an 
American flag, but devoid of the field of 
stars, the flag being overlaid, on one face of 
the sign, with a representation of an anchor 
and cable. 

The indications seem to be that Rufus 
Blair conducted business at his place down 
the road, while his successor joined the 
march of progress, moving up into the new 

168 



THE NEW ARISTOCRACY 

and growing neighborhood. It is worthy 
of further remark that Samuel Porter bears 
the title, in the county records, of "bb D." 
When he bought the strip of ground of his 
blacksmith neighbor, it was accompanied 
with the prohibition on the part of the 
grantor, during the life of the said "Beament," 
to sell the same to any one by occupation a 
blacksmith. * 

Judah Bement had his home and shop on 
the southwest side of the road, to the north 
or west of the present library. f He was 
on the same spot as early as 1761, and in all 
those years following had been pursuing a 
career of honest industry and solid worth, 
without much noise. There were other 
Bements, possibly brothers of Judah, but 
they were not as permanent as he. Judah 
hammered away at his anvil without feverish 
ambition, and seems to have emulated the 
career of such an one as Longfellow's village 
smith. In the '70s he was selectman for 
five successive terms, and for six years town 

* Attwater's license, if we may trust the county records, was not con- 
tinuous, and Porter's license just fills the gap. It suggests the 
query whether there was some contract between the two. 

t There is a depression still in the orchard, near the street, on the grounds 
of the Glasgow Hall, recently the estate of the late Lewis Parks. 

169 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

clerk, his hands on the records betraying 
the fact that his education was chiefly ob- 
tained in the great school of life. He was 
tithingman one year, and had the honor 
to serve on the first committee of inspection 
and safety. Having won his own self respect 
and that of his fellow citizens, he was content 
to stay by his anvil. Peace be to his memory. 
Solomon Noble, who has already joined 
the group of promoters in innholding, claims 
a larger attention than has yet been paid to 
him. He kept at his business of black- 
smithing long after he began running a 
tavern, which covered the years, according 
to record, 1800 to 1809, with the apparent 
exception of 1808. The large acreage of 
farm lands which he acquired in the fivc- 
hundred-acre lots 45 and 48, in the southeast 
part of town, failed to present permanent 
attraction to him. These at one time and 
another he largely disposed of. Indeed, like 
Timothy Hatch and the Blairs, he was not 
long at a time in the same spot. In 1796 
he acquired the Hatch tavern on the corner, 
and years after he had ceased to live there he 
continued to call it his "Tavern Farm or 

170 



THE NEW ARISTOCRACY 

Homelot." Without doubt he hung his sign 
out there. There is documentary evidence 
of his living there in 1802. Not any of the 
deeds speak of him as an innholder, but they 
do, almost to the last, refer to him as "Solomon 
Noble Blacksmith." There are to this day, 
under the soil close by the house, black- 
smith's cinders. He dabbled in property 
around this corner awhile, only to dispose 
of it, then began exploiting real estate on 
both sides of the road north of the meeting- 
house in half a dozen different lots, near and 
remote, including the Sloper farm and the 
Upson farm — that is, lot 12, and the Cannon 
farm, or lot 13. This last was just to the 
north of the old "Gore lane," or "Gore 
road;" not the road now bearing that name, 
but one long since abandoned, extending 
in a westerly direction between lots 12 and 
13, opposite the parade ground. This was 
in 1805, and there he made his home for 
awhile and had his shop. It would seem, 
too, that his tavern must have been there so 
long as he lived on that lot. The Sloper 
house did not come into his possession until 
several years later. Solomon Noble's in- 

171 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

fluence was considerable during the years 
of his activity in the village. 

The transformation into a parsonage of 
the old Hatch and Noble tavern, on the 
corner of the road to the second division, has 
already been alluded to. That was in 1806. 
Mr. Keep cut down most of the trees in the 
orchard, for the cider which ministered to 
conviviality in the tavern was to be no more 
in the parsonage. It is said that when 
Rev. Dorus Clarke succeeded Mr. Keep, he 
still further reduced the orchard. Already, 
on the opposite side, in the Hatch house high 
up on the terrace, a doctor, Joseph B. Elmore, 
had located, but not for long, for he had 
come and gone before Mr. Keep arrived to 
sanctify by his personality the tavern stand, 
and the doctor's house was then in possession 
of Paul and Barnabas Whitney, '"Traders." 
On the southeast corner* were Moses and 
Enos Bunnell. The former was a merchant, 
and had a retailer's license in 1804 and the 
year following. The business may not im- 
probably have been done in "the store 
across the way." 

The kaleidoscopic changes which character- 

* Now occupied in summer by Dr. Plumb Brown. 

172 



THE NEW ARISTOCRACY 

ized ownership in real estate in this newer 
and fast evolving community are too many 
to record in this narrative, already encum- 
bered with details. Store business rapidly 
followed the rise of the tavern. The mer- 
chant in those days could hardly do business 
without a license to sell the inevitable strong 
drink. Nathaniel P. Little, one of the pio- 
neers of the Scioto company, in 1802 bought 
and almost immediately sold a store on the 
corner of the West Granville road.* Little 
appears to have had no license. Russell 
Attwater kept store in several locations in 
the new village. He was licensed for about 
a dozen years. One of his stores was on 
or near the site of the present library. An- 
other was on the opposite side, where the 
village store has been for now many years. 
He was succeeded by William Ashley for a 
time, then came Lyman and Collins. Joseph 
Bull was also on the southerly location for a 
number of years. Amos M. Collins was a 
man of large business capacity and immense 
influence in the town. His retailer's license 
ran from 1810 to 1817 inclusive. Joseph 

* This store appears to have been located in the lot containing the former 
home of Rev. James Morton, and opposite the present house of 
Mrs. Elisha Shepard. 

173 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

Bull preceded hm by a few years, having 
both innholder's and retailer's licenses, and 
left a record of great activity. The Bradleys 
— John and George and James and Thomas, — 
in combinations of partnership continually 
changing, kept affairs from stagnating on 
the west of the Keep parsonage; then Luther 
Laflin came in, buying this property, as also 
that still farther west, succeeding to Lyman 
and Collins. These are to be included in 
the all-embracing fraternity. The magnifi- 
cent Laflin elm is still with us, scarred by 
fire but yet a grateful ornament to the 
street. After Luther Laflin was Linus B. 
Barnes whose retailer's license began in 
1832. Farther up the street, and just below 
the corner tavern, was Orrin Sage, who also 
had taken a part in the metamorphoses of 
the Bradley business. This gentleman 
carried a retailer's license from 1811 to 1833. 
These later business men, who did so much 
to build the town in the prosperous years of 
the early nineteenth century, deserve much 
more extended notice, but belong more fit- 
tingly in another story than that which 
occupies these pages. 

174 



THE NEW ARISTOCRACY 

The new life of this young village became 
further augmented by a physician who is 
worthy of a name with the very first, though 
he came after the early development was no 
longer a prophecy, but an accomplishment — 
Eli Hall, who, with Luke, perhaps a brother, 
bought land on the southerly side of the 
street as early as 1807, and built a house in 
1820.* He held a retailer's license in 1810 
and '11 and Luke continued it in 1812, 
apparently in the old corner tavern; for 
when the Episcopal society in that year met 
in annual conclave, their place of assemblage 
was described as at the school-house "near 
Luke Hall's Inn." The Doctor was a man 
of ability, high standing and worth, was a 
staunch supporter and trusted helper of 
Rev. John Keep in the church, and later be- 
came active in the temperance reform. 

That section of the old town street which 
ran from the burying-ground southward 
claims a reminiscent visit from the student of 
historic Blandford. In part the story of 
it attaches to that of the preceding chapter, 
but in part also to this one. It was really 

* Now Glasgow hall. 

175 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

a spur from each street and seemed itself to 
hesitate as to which it should belong to when 
the time of decision came. In the early 
days it was a much busier and more promis- 
ing location than its modern appearance of 
sleepiness remotely suggests. There was a 
time when the business men of the new 
village seemed to look to it as warranting 
development. For years it was in part the 
road to the mill. Dr. Robert King lived 
there for nearly a generation. Justus Ash- 
mun diligently acquired real estate on the 
west side of the road, buying it piece by 
piece. Russell Attwater, Thomas Bradley, 
Orrin Sage, Benjamin Scott, James and 
William Watson and others, all business 
men, went in there at or near the beginning 
of the nineteenth century, seeming to expect 
a business future before that part of town. 
Nathaniel P. Little, the Ohio pioneer, had 
a store on the corner. It requires but a 
small makeweight to turn the scale when in 
unstable equilibrium. That casting weight 
was gradually thrown to the east instead 
of to the south, of Rev. James Morton's 
corner. 



176 



THE NEW ARISTOCRACY 

The road had been originally laid out 
coincident with the division line between 
the two tiers of first division home lots, but 
had to be shifted somewhat irregularly to 
the westward in order to avoid the ravine 
and brook running through it. The road is 
now spoken of sometimes as the Falls road. 
A very early town lay-out of the road was on 
this wise: "Put to voat to see if the Town 
will Establish the Road South of the meeting 
hous beginning at the Northwest Corner of 
the Rev. m r mortons ortcherd as the road 
now Gos to the west end of the wido Hamil- 
tons House from thence as the road now Goes 
through will™ Provans Land from thence 
as the Rood now Gos through the Land of 
James Campbls from thence through James 
& Robert M' Gomarys Land Said Rood to be 
three Roods wid" 

Furthermore: "Put to voat to see if the 
Town will Grant to the Persons above Named 
three Roods of Land Laid out for a Rood at 
the East end of the Said Pased in the 
Positive" 

"Wido Hamilton," mentioned in this 
instrument, claims our attention, for she had 

177 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

an innkeeper's license, as did her husband 
Armour Hamilton before her, in the lot ad- 
joining Mr. Morton's to the south. As early 
as 1742, possibly earlier, he received a license 
as innkeeper "in the House where he now 
dwells," to quote the record of the court of 
general sessions. That license was annually 
renewed until his death in 1748, or a little 
before. After that his wife Agnes continued 
the business for a few years. They owned 
a lot in the eastern section of the second 
division.* But the movement of travel and 
business was not there, so they located on 
their first division lot. There is repeated 
documentary evidence of "widow Hamilton" 
living there down to the year 1778. But 
all traditions of the place and the people 
have been covered up with the overgrowing 
of the cellar hole by the sod cropped for 
generations by the unconscious kine. 

If Armour Hamilton occupied a humble 
place in the life of the infant town, he was 
yet a respected and trusted citizen. He 
served on a committee to build the pound, 
in 1748, and the same year he or James Cald- 

* East of the present home of L. C. Nye and Son. 

178 



THE NEW ARISTOCRACY 

well, according as either of them might be 
"going to Boston upon their Busnes," was 
to negotiate with the presbytery there for a 
minister for the people. One wants to know 
more about this place of public entertain- 
ment in those days of beginnings, but the 
volume is closed which has grudgingly yielded 
this bit or two of documentary record, and 
affords not the trace of a tradition besides, 
unless one may reckon in the inventory, 
which is dated 1748: 



a blue Coat at 


£ 12 


a Coulter & Share 


1-10 


a red Jacket 


1 


a Cops (Caps?) 


-10 


a green Coat 


4 


Pewter 


9- 8 


a Gun 


14 


Knives & forks 


-15 


a horse 


40 






Saddle 


3 


Hollowware 


6 


a black Cow 


25 


Drinking Glasses 


-15 


a fore Cow (farrow) 


25 


Case & Bottles 


2-10 


a black Heifer 


14 


Harrow Teeth 


1-10 


a year 


8 


a brass Kettle 


4- 0-0 


a black Calf 


5-10 


a Pot 


2- 


a little 


1-10 


Frying Pan 


-15 


a brown 


4-10 


Pails 


1 


a 60 acre Lot 


70 


Wooden Dishes 


-13-4 


Horse Traces 


1-10 


Barrels 


2-12 


a Spade 


1 


Churn 


- 5 


a Gun 


4-10 


Wheels 


1-10 


Stillyards 


1- 5 


areel 


- 5- 


Axes 


1 


Chairs 


-16- 


Hoes 


15 


Bed & Clothing 


13-10 


a chain 


1-15 




7- 5 


Tramil 


2 


" " " 


7-10 


Tongs 


2 


Sheep 


9-15 


a Bed 


2 


Hogs 


32 


Fine Cloth 


23 


Chest of Drawers 


5 


Coarse Cloth 


26 


Table 


1- 6 


Wool 


3- 8 


Three Glass Bottles 


- 6 


Woolen yarn 


4 


3 Chairs 


- 6 


Linen yarn 


2- 9 


Coin (.Corn?) 


3 


Hay 


40 


Wheat 


3-10 


Beef 


10 


Scythes 


1- 2 


(?) 


2- 5 


Hay fork 


- 8 


Pease 


1-10 


Tallow 


- 9 


Turnips 


2- 2 


Square 


-16 


Homelot & Buildings 


500 


a Hamer & axe 


-1 - 


Fire Slice 


1 


Andirons 


3 



179 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

It is all a typical outfit for a primitive 
Blandford home of the thrifty sort, with 
little to suggest the wayside inn unless it be 
the "Case & Bottles" and the "Drinking 
Glasses." We do not read of town meeting 
adjournments there. Altogether it would 
seem to have been just a simple neighbor- 
hood resort, with those liquid appurtenances 
which the people of the time universally 
considered as natural and necessary. 

In 1771, this road was somewhat minutely 
described in a county lay-out. On the course 
from Granville, after crossing "Pebbles 
brook," it was described as extending "to a 
great Rock in the middle of the River." 
Then climbing the steep hill, it ran "by 

Robert Montgomery's fence to a 

heap of Stones near a path in the field about 
7 rods west of Montgomery's house," then 
"North 42 perch to a great red oak six rods 
west of James Montgomery's." The first 
Montgomery named lived on the lot first 
settled by Hugh Black.* James occupied 
the next lot to the north. Not long after 

* Now and long since known as the Osborne place. 

180 



THE NEW ARISTOCRACY 

this, Robert Montgomery sold out his posses- 
sions there and moved up to Beech hill, 
where he was living in the eighties and 
carried on a retail license, assisting thus in 
all probability in building up the reputa- 
tion of the Devil's Half-acre. James Mont- 
gomery had bought his lot in 1761 of Samuel 
Stewart who had an innholder's license in 
1759. This is all that seems to be known 
of Stewart, but even so, it is another straw 
to indicate that business was once there. 

The next landmark in the lay-out of this 
county road is a heap of "Stones on a Rock 
at the End of Campbell's Lane." That, it 
would appear, was the "road to the mill," 
otherwise so called. The mill was in the 
hollow, but the miller chose to live nearer 
the village. About one hundred rods farther 
north was a landmark in the road "4 rods 
east of Provin's house." That was James 
Provin. Robert King settled on it about 
ten years after and lived there about twenty 
years, until his death.* The next house to 
the north was "Widow Mercy Provin's house 
in the path," and the road ran three rods 

* The place is now part of the farm of H. K. Herrick. 

181 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

east of it. Next was mentioned "Widow 
Campbell," whose house was four rods east 
of the road, which soon terminated at "a 
Heap of Stones by a Stump by Berkshire 
Road about 2 or 3 rods from the corner of 
Mr. Morton's fence thirty or forty rods South 
of Blanford meeting House." Most of these 
homesteads and landmarks are not so much 
as a dim memory today. A few years ago, 
while workmen were digging a cellar for a 
modern cottage on this old road, a part of a 
gravestone was uncovered and then built 
into the wall. 

"We bring our years to an end as a sigh."* 
Into the lower village, then, little by little, 
always around the personality and tap-room 
of the innholder or licensed retailer, there 
was gathered a community of resource and 
wealth, of poverty, too, and sorrow, but 
withal a typical community of the olden 
time. The politician and lawyer came with 
him. There was as much politics to the 
square rod in and about these taverns of 
generations gone as anywhere on earth, 
but the low whisperings and strident voices 

* Psalm xc. 9b, American Revised Version. 

182 



THE NEW ARISTOCRACY 

alike are all hushed, and their particular 
emergence, except as results of town elec- 
tions and the like may reveal, has become 
one with all other content of oblivion. But 
the newer aristocracy of the newer village 
became at last the focus of municipal life. 
Tradition is hard to change, and at least 
until the nineteenth century, and I know 
not for how much longer, the old original 
highway which separated the first division 
lots by a north and south line continued to 
be known as the street. The road which 
claimed the newer village bulked large in 
the business and imagination of the people. 
More and more it cast into shadow the other 
road, or street. This ' 'great road leading 
from Blandford to Westfield,' 1 or "from 
Boston to the meeting houce in Blandford" 
(to quote from the deeds) waxed greater, 
though it did not in that generation assume 
the name which the old aristocracy had 
given to the original artery of town traffic. 
Later, when the old "town street" was 
thought of as an inter-town thoroughfare, 
or as inter-state highway, it was designated 
as "the County Road running thro' said 

183 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

Town to Becket," or as "the No. 4 Road," 
or even as "the Albany road." There were 
the first and ever popular "homelots;" there 
was the meeting-house, and by and by there 
was a second sanctuary. Taverns there were 
in plenty, some stores, the pound, the parade 
ground. New homes and other taverns were 
yet to come, and a legacy of life was still 
theirs. But from the time that Pease sold 
to Ashmun and to Hatch, and the latter 
with the Blairs began to build and operate, 
and these all, with post office and stores and 
other men of large affairs, clung to the new 
location, the prestige of the upper and more 
northerly village began to wane. And the 
determining factor in it all was the tavern; 
not the meeting-house, for that remained, 
or, when it was abandoned for a better, the 
new one rose near its site. The tavern was 
the pioneer. Its proprietors were men of 
the church, these landlords, almost without 
exception, and men of public spirit, men of 
enterprise and far sight. The old street 
did not yield up its leadership without 
putting up a stiff competition for many 
years. But one by one its taverns faded 

184 




Z f 

o w 
s . 

O J 

J J 

O D 






THE NEW ARISTOCRACY 

away, its stores became closed, and most of 
its houses crumbled into the cellar or fed 
the devouring flames, leaving too few land- 
marks of the days that are no more. Much 
of similar fate has attended the modern 
village too, but so far as Blandford has a 
centre, so far as it focuses life in an approach 
to business and society, it is still where the 
pioneers of the newer taverns chose to locate 
it. 



185 



Chapter Seven 

Beech Hill 

THE name of Jedediah Smith was one 
to conjure by in the time of the first 
two presidents. Jedediah the elder, 
graduate of Yale in 1750, minister in 
the town of Granville shortly after, a Tory, 
dismissed from his charge in 1776, departed 
for Natchez as a missionary. He took his 
family with him except the son who was his 
namesake. The father died from the effects 
of malarial fever in the very year of his de- 
parture for the South. Already, some years 
before leaving Granville, he had bought large 
areas in Blandford, including the farm con- 
veyed by the father to the son in 1772, on 
which the latter built his home. That was 
on Beech hill, far-famed among the knowing 
ones thereabout, whether in social, ecclesi- 
astical or legal history. Across the street 
from the present house, itself very old, there 
is a little oblong hollow, the only remaining 
vestige of the original log home. A little 
way to the north another and larger house, 



BEECH HILL 

now a shapeless mass of wreckage, was built 
for or by a son of Jedediah the younger. 

Beech hill is a wide-spreading, rolling 
plateau, four miles south of the village of 
Blandford, partly within that township and 
partly within the precincts of Granville, though 
distant also from the centre of that town. 
It obtained its name from the trees which 
predominated in the forests of that region, 
and the land when cleared yielded abundant 
crops. In the days when New Englanders 
loved the hilltops it was an ideal location 
for a community. Its single drawback was 
the fact that an invisible line divided it into 
a double jurisdiction, and while meeting- 
house, school- house and court-house all 
thronged with life for a generation, it could 
not withstand permanently the pull from 
the north and the south to post offices and 
village life. Had original town lines been 
differently blocked out, Beech hill would 
today be crowned with an old-time meeting- 
house and the lingering, sleepy dignity of a 
venerable New England town. 

There is nothing to indicate that Jedediah 
Smith was ever proprietor of a tavern. But 

187 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

he was intimately associated with the tavern 
constituency, his entire career having been 
bound together with it both directly and 
indirectly. His business activities were di- 
verse and far-reaching. Farmer, lumberman, 
cider-maker, distiller, gentleman and judge, 
he was a chief functionary in the life of the 
town. He was several times selectman of 
the town of Blandford, once at least tithing- 
man, and for many years judge of district 
court which sat in his house. He repre- 
sented the town at the General Court in 1795 
and 1796. 

It seems a little queer to read in "Jedediah 
Smith His Account Book" the sales of large 
quantities of brandy and "brandy in the 
spirit" — a highly distilled liquor and sold 
at a higher price than the other article — and 
then turn to his court docket and read the 
entries of trial and conviction for crimes and 
misdemeanors which must have been due 
in part to the sale and use of that very 
spirit. Such, however, were the times, and 
Squire Smith was only one, and not an ex- 
ceptional, exponent of them. Rev. James 
Morton, according to a credible tradition, 



BEECH HILL 

distilled, after his retirement, hundreds of 
hogsheads of cider brandy. Squire Smith 
kept a "brandy book" which is not now in 
evidence, though references to it are. He 
also kept a "Docket or Book of Entries." 
This, together with his account book, reveals 
a marvellous amount of legal business done 
by him in the early years of the nineteenth 
century. We find him closely associated 
with other justices in town and with the 
lawyers of local residence, one of whom at 
least won a national reputation. The tavern 
business is prominent in all these records. 
Cash was hard to get, accounts ran up, 
balances had to be struck, embarrassments 
arose, passion mingled with drink and in- 
flamed by it precipitated a crisis, then 
followed the appeal to court, perhaps after 
violence had ensued and when to the civil 
claim a criminal charge was finally added. 
In the account book stands a list of suits 
carried before him in the year 1703 by Eli P. 
Ashmun, numbering not less than sixty. 

There is a bunch of execution papers among 
the documents left by this country squire, 
bearing date of 1810, to the number of 

189 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

seventy-four. Nearly every one of them 
represents a Blandford litigant on one side 
or the other. Similar records are left of other 
years, and legal records of the first third of 
the eighteenth century, still treasured in the 
old homestead of Squire Smith, are measured 
literally by the bushel. A few of the papers 
of 1810 were issued by other local judges, 
but only a few. When Asa Smith was plain- 
tiff, as he was in two cases, the trial was under 
Eleazer Slocum, the one-time proprietor of 
the corner tavern. David Boies presided 
on the bench in three or four of the cases. 
But nearly all went to Beech hill. 

Of the plaintiffs the tavern men or licensed 
retailers were in the majority. Eleazer Slo- 
cum figured in this capacity once; Benjamin 
Scott or the administrators of his estate, 
seven times, John Lloyd and Job Almy each 
four times, Joseph Bull five times, Asahel 
Lyman, "Trader," twelve times, and Fred- 
erick J. Redfield, "Trader," quoted as some- 
times of Middletown, Conn., and sometimes 
of Blandford, eleven times. I have not dis- 
covered the licenses of these last two, but the 
designation of "trader" almost proves it. 

190 



BEECH HILL 

Three Blandford men appear as particularly 
unfortunate in the role of defendants in this 
year of grace 1810. Reuben Parks was the 
victim of no less than seven prosecutions, 
at the hands of Eleazer Slocum, Samuel 
Boies, Frederick J. Redfield, Job Almy, 
Asahel Lyman and Elias Hayden. Heman 
Leonard, a clothier, who lived and ran a 
factory just below where of late years Peebles' 
mills have been, had five executions served 
upon him; Dr. Nathan Blair five also, two 
by Benjamin Scott or his administrators, 
one by Joseph Bull, one by Asahel Lyman, 
one by Elias Hayden. Solomon Brown, in a 
suit entered by Job Almy, was adjudged a 
debtor for eighty dollars, and not finding 
wherewith to pay, and wishing to escape 
imprisonment for debt, left for parts un- 
known. A dozen of these suits were to re- 
claim less than two dollars each; one was 
a pursuit of 87 cents and another of 89 cents. 
One or two were yielded in part by the 
creditor. Without doubt many of these were 
criminal suits, but the execution papers give 
the student no hint of distinction between 
them. 

191 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

More enlightening as well as more interest- 
ing is the single volume of dockets, or book 
of entries of Squire Smith which has sur- 
vived the wrecks of time. It exposes to view 
the seamy side of tavern life in Blandford. 
Assaults were frequent. All kinds of mis- 
demeanors which could possibly be con- 
strued to fall under the ban of the law, — 
since the opportunity for litigation was easy, 
and drink inflamed the passions, — were 
dragged into the Beech hill court. It was 
the fashion to complain of one another's 
sins; and as it was easy to run up costs of 
prosecution, it was not unusual for the 
offender, foreseeing his danger, to complain 
of himself, thus saving something of the 
expense of indictment and trial. Weakness, 
passion, fear and revenge all played their 
part, as they do now, and very far more than 
they do now, at least in country towns. It 
gives a strong encouragement to optimism 
for one thoughtfully to study such a docu- 
ment as the docket of Jcdediah Smith, con- 
trasting the condition of society then re- 
vealed, with that at the present, far as the 
latter may be from the ideal. We will review 

192 




Road on Beech Hill 



BEECH HILL 

the entries for a little, and for the purpose of 
exactness and truth in proportion, take up 
the items in order as recorded. 

(1) April 13, 1802. "Noah Farnum 2 d 
Came before me Jedediah Smith .... 
and Confessed that he had broken the Peace 
by Laboring on the Lords day at boiling 
maple Shugar on the fourth day of April." 
Adjudged guilty and fined. * The second entry 
is now passed over for extended remark later. 

(3) Joseph Crawford of Western com- 
plains against "Solomon Noble, Ebenezer 
Kennedy Enos Bunel and John Cochran 
Junr, all of Blandford," for assault on Feb. 4. 
Warrant drawn by Russell Attwater. Kenedy 
pleaded guilty, the rest not guilty. Kenedy 
and Cochran were declared guilty, the former 
being fined $3.33, the latter $1.00 and costs. 

(4) Feb. 7, 1803. Joseph Crawford was 
fined 67 cents for "Swearing one profane 
Oath". The witnesses were Solomon Noble 
and Martin Cannon. 

(5) May 8, 1803. Horace Harrison of 
Granville complained of himself that "on the 
third day of February 1803 with force and 

* Amount obscure 

193 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

arms (he) did Sell and Dispose of five Gallons 
of Cider brandy to John Lloyd not having 
license as the Law Directs to sell the same." 
Fined $6.67. 

(6) July 9, 1803. Henry Kenedy and 
Henry Hinds, both of Blandford, fined $3.33 
and $2.00 respectively, on complaint of Aaron 
Fish of Westfield, for assault. Eli P. Ash- 
mun, prosecuting attorney. 

(7) Nov. 12, 1803. Thomas Pelton, on 
complaint of Nathaniel Haley of Blandford, 
for assault, pleading guilty, was fined $2.50 
and costs. 

(8) Omitted by error, or error in original 
document. 

(9) April 20, 1804. Charles Robinson of 
Granville complains of Nathaniel Haley that 
"the Said Nathaniel Haley of Granville at 
Blandford did profanely Swear in the words 
following to wit By God and Repeated the 
Same words By God ten times which is 
Contrary to law &c." Haley fined $2.50 
and costs. 

(10) June 24, 1804. Thomas Moor of 
Blandford fined for offence similar to last 
named, same amount. 

194 



BEECH HILL 

(11) July 7, 1804. James Lloyd com- 
plains against himself of an assault on James 
Lloyd 2 nd . Fined $2.00 and costs. 

(12) Sept. 11, 1804. James Balow of 
Granville complains that "William Griffin 
of Blandford in Said County yeoman did 
With force and armes being a Traveller 
Travel on Said (the Lord's) Day With his 
Carrage on the highway Leading from Gran- 
ville to Blandford in the East Parish of Said 
Granville and being Called upon to Give a 
reason or Cause for travailing by Said James 
totally refused & made no Answer the same 
not being from Necesety or Charity which is 
Contrary to Law." Defendent pleads guilty 
"in part," "towit for traveling." Fined $4.00 
and costs. 

(13) William Boies complains of himself 
that on October 2 "in and upon the body of 
Duty Underwood (he) Did then and there 
with force and arms an Assault did make 
and him the Said Duty did beat and Evilly 
Treat and Other injuries to the Said Duty 
then and there did in Evil Example to others 
in like kind to offend." Fined $1.50 and 
costs. Duty Underwood was bartender at 

195 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

the Baird tavern — later the Bartholomew 
house. 

( 14) Case of adultery. 

(15) Jan. 11,1805. John Upson Jr. and 
Daniel Upson charged with forgery and coun- 
terfeiting. Discharged as probably not guilty. 

(16) Jared W. Knowlton charges that 
Daniel Upson assaulted William Knowlton. 
Defendant fined $1.00 and costs. 

(17) April 29, 1805. Dudley Williams of 
Russell complains of Samuel Bull for traveling 
on the Lord's day. Not guilty. 

( 18) John Bacons gives bonds to indem- 
nify the town "harmless from all Charges that 
might Arise on Account of the Child Sworn 
upon him." 

( 19) Barnabas Whitney of Blandford com- 
plains of assault by William Perkins. De- 
fendant fined $1.00 and costs. 

(20) July 27, 1805. James King of Bland- 
ford complains that Benjamin W. Robbins 
of Westfield "at Blandford with force and 
arms to wit with Scythes & Sickles an Assault 
did make in and upon the body of one Curtis 
Knox of Said Blandford." Defendant fined 
$3.33 and costs. 

196 



BEECH HILL 

(21) Aug. 28, 1805. "Cyrus Minor Titus 
Knox Chester Clark and Stephen Carnahan 
all of Blandford aforesaid Labourers on the 
twenty fifth day of August Instant being 
the Lords day at Russell in Said County 
with force and arms did Goe into the river 
in Said Russell to recreate themselves and 
Swam in the water all which is against the 
peace and Dignity of this Commonwealth." 
Fined $4.00 each. (22) The next day 
Daniel Upsan went before the judge and 
entered complaint of himself as having done 
likewise. Fined similarly. 

(23) Oct. 5, 1805. John G. Wilson of 
Blandford, blacksmith, complains in warrant 
by John Phelps, Esq., that Robert Cannon 
made "an Assault upon the body of your 
Complainant and him your Complainant with 
his fist Gun Club Stone ax Stick Beat wound 
Bruise Smit Struck him the Said John G 
being in the peace of God and this Common- 
wealth." Not guilty. 

(24) Nov. 16, 1805. Ansan Boies of 
Blandford, "Student in Physic," complains 
of "John Blair the third," in warrant by Eli 
P. Ashmun, Esq., that the defendant "having 

197 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

arrived at discretion did profanely Curs in 
the words following to wit God damn you." 
Also at another time in the words, "by God." 
Blair fined $1.75 for first offense, and 25 
cents for the second, and costs. 

(25) Nov. 16, 1805. Ajax Whitney of 
Blandford complains of "John Blair the 
third" under warrant by Eli P. Ashmun, Esq., 
of assault. Blair fined $1.00 and costs. 

(26) Nov. 16, 1805. Barnard Shepard of 
Blandford complains of John Blair the Third 
of assault. Blair fined $3.33 and costs. 

(27) Same date. Barnard Shepard com- 
plains of John Blair Third, in warrant by 
Eli P. Ashmun, Esq., that on Oct. 15 "the 
Said John did then and there with like force 
& arms beat bruise and illy treat and the 
Said John then and there with like force and 
arms the horse of the Said Barnard being 
thereon riding did whip frighten and Scare 
and did then and there threaten the Said 
Barnard with Great Bodily harm." Blair 
fined $3.00 and costs. 

(28) Assault case: Chester and Norwich 
parties. 

(29) "Hampshire Ss. 

198 



BEECH HILL 

"Be it Remembered that on the twentieth 
day of December in the Year of our Lord one 
Thousand Eight hundred and Six Joseph B 
Elmore Was Convicted Before me .... 
of Swearing Six profane Oaths and of Utter- 
ing four profane Curses 

Given under my hand the day and year 
aforesaid 

Jedediah Smith Justice of the Peace" 
"fined $1.75 

twenty five 
for 9 others $2.25 



4.00 
Costs of Court and Paid Over 

Taxed at 6.00 



10.00" 
Dr. Elmore, it may be remembered, was 
physician in the new village. 

(3 0) Similar to (29) , Harvey Peebles be- 
ing defendant. Charge, Swearing three pro- 
fane Oaths and uttering three profane Curses, 
"for the first Oath $2.00 

for the second Oath 0.50 

for the third Oath 0.25 



199 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 
for three Curses 2 5 Each 0.75 



3.50 
Costs of Court Taxed at 7.89 

and Paid Over 
Jedediah Smith Justice of the Peace" 

(31) Omitted in docket. 

(32) March 16, 1807. Thomas Barnard of 
Blandford complains of assault by Harvey 
and Eunice Peebles, "to wit with Guns & 
pistols did beat bruise & Evil Treat to the 
Great Damage of the Said Thomas" etc. 
Bound in $60 to recognize in higher court. 
Declines, and is committed "to our Goal in 
Northampton." 

(33, 34, 35.) Bondsmen, witnesses etc. se- 
cured in case of Commonwealth vs. Harvey 
Peebles; Harvey bound in $2,000 and sure- 
ties in $1000 each. 

(36) Dec. 19, 1807. Suit between parties 
in Montgomery and Russell. 

(37) March 18, 1870. Duty Underwood 
"upon Oath Saith that Nathan Blair of Said 
Blandford Physician at Said Blandford on 
the Seventeenth day of March Current with 
force & arms to wit with shovels & knives 



200 









2 ffi 

-1 x 

5 « 



BEECH HILL 

an assault did make in & upon the Body of 
the said Duty the Said Nathan did then & 
there with force and arms as aforesaid beat 
Strike bruise Stab & wound & illy treat & 
Other Enormities the Said Nathan then and 
there did & Committed against the peace 
and Dignity of this Commonwealth." De- 
fendant fined $3.00 and costs. Dr. Nathan 
Blair was one of the doctors of the old aris- 
tocracy. 

(38) April 16, 1808. Duty Underwood 
pleads guilty to an assault upon Reuben 
Blair, "with Stick and fists" and is fined $3.00 
and costs. 

A memorandum of May 7, 1808, makes 
record of further offenses by Harvey Peebles, 
the complainants being John and Francis 
Peebles of Granville. Harvey Peebles had 
on divers occasions "Threatened the Said 
John and Francis that he would by fire 
Destroy them meaning as your Complainants 
Veryly believes that he would in the Night 
time burn the Houses of your complainants 
& burn them and their families therein." 
The court is asked to require "Securities of 
the Peace and good behaviour." He is re- 

201 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

quired to recognize in the sum of $500 with 
two or more sureties in the same sum, to 
appear at the Supreme Judicial Court at 
Northampton. 

It may be of incidental interest to quote 
the "Bill of Cost in the Suit the Common- 
wealth vs Harvey Peebles" 

' ' Justices f eese $1.25 

Simeon Morgan Officer fees Service 30 

Summoning five Witness 50 

Travil 3 2 

Keeping prisener 10 hours 62 

Witness John Peebles 

attend one day 33 

Travel 8 miles 32 

Francis Peebles att one day 33 

Travil 8 miles 32 

Archibald Peebles att 1 day 33 

Travil 8 miles 32 

Rufus Peebles att 1 day 33 

Travil 6 miles 24 

Joel Peebles att 1 day 33 

Travil 8 miles 32 

6.16" 

There are other scattering notes in this 

book of entries, but these abundantly illus- 

202 



i BEECH HILL 

trate the character of the whole, so far as the 
criminal docket is concerned. As for civil 
suits, they very far outnumbered the criminal 
cases, and were almost uniformly for small 
sums, often for less than one dollar. In 
Jedediah Smith's account book there is a 
running account covering several years with 
Eli P. Ashmun, attorney. In the year 1803 
there are no less than sixty-one entries rep- 
resenting as many suits with which this able 
attorney had to do as prosecutor, himself 
being plaintiff in eleven of the cases. There 
is a similar account with Alanson Knox in 
1804. 

The universal liquor habit and the easy 
facilities for litigation were a combination 
readily provocative of quarrelsomeness. 
When the Butler family moved to Beech hill 
from Connecticut, a few years later than the 
legal entries just recounted, they had to con- 
front this condition of things. "The people 
were many of them ignorant and quarrel- 
some," wrote Rev. Daniel Butler in a private 
paper of family reminiscences, "jealous of 
strangers and regarding them as enemies or 
victims. For several years," he said, his 

203 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

father "was subjected to petty lawsuits by 
the Smiths and Lloyds till they found they 
could not be driven. The character of the 
neighborhood gained for it the name of the 
Devil's Half-acre." Had this family located 
in a different neighborhood the special odium 
which the above remark seems to cast upon 
two honorable names in the town history 
might have attached to others instead, for 
the records as cited prove plainly enough 
that such a spirit was quite too common all 
over town. Some of the town physicians 
were chief fomentors of strife, as the above 
records bear witness. 

Among these petty — often amusing — 
neighborhood quarrels is the following, as of 
record : 

"I Alexander Lloyd of Blandford do hereby 
Certify that I have been the procurer and 
Publisher of a Libel against George Smith of 
Said Blandford and Said Libel is as follows 

Marriage Intended between Mr George 
Smith of Blandford & Mrs Janny Peebles of 
Granville 

January 4th 1804 
D Card Town Clerk 

204 



BEECH HILL 

Which Publishment I Confess is A Libel and 
I am Sorry & A Shaimed of it, in Witness 
whereof I have Set my hand and will that 
this Should be made as Public as I made the 
Libel this 22 rf day of December AD 1803 

Alexander Lloyd 
Orrin D. Squire" 

There is another tradition connected with 
the Devil's Half-acre. The name now at- 
taches only to a small plot of ground just 
below the old Butler house, to the east. 
There was a school- house on this half -acre, 
where Methodist meetings were often held. 
The unsanctified boys of the neighborhood 
contributed to these their offering— -of dis- 
turbance rather than devotion, and from the 
pranks of these boys arid youth the other 
tradition of the name of this locality has 
proceeded. It is recorded in the docket of 
Squire Smith, on complaint of Philip Phelps 
of Blandford, July 15, 1802, that Rhodolphus 
Bancroft of Granville, on the fourth day of 
the month then current, "with force and 
arms did willfully interrupt and disturb an 
assembly of people then and there meet for 
the public worship of God in Evil Example 

205 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

to others in like mind to offend against the 
Peace and dignity of the Said Common- 
wealth." The glorious Fourth had no claims 
in extenuation of noise by young America, 
when others thought the day to be best 
observed by prayer and praise. Rhodolphus 
paid one dollar and costs for his indiscretion, 
the costs being listed on this wise : 
" Travel 12 miles at 4 Cents 48 

Summoning one witness 10 

officers attendance 4 hours 32" 

It is not said that this awful desecration oc- 
curred in the school-house on Devil's Half- 
acre, but the Bancrofts lived near there, 
and the witness may well have been, though 
living six miles away, like Bancroft himself, 
a devout Methodist who thought it worth 
while to bear witness to the superior sanctity 
of praise over powder on the Fourth of July. 
No neighborhood in the country round 
about is to-day more respectable than Beech 
hill. Even in the ancient time it certainly 
stood not alone in respect of occasional law- 
lessness and disturbance of the peace. Many 
an ancient cellar hole, now well-nigh concealed, 
or perchance with tall Lombardy poplars 

206 



BEECH HILL 

still standing near, bears witness to a once 
thrifty and populous condition on that high 
and wide table-land. Even to-day in its 
loneliness and isolation it is not without its 
well tilled fields while a wealth of memories 
join the living present with the silent past. 

Up beyond the Devil's Half-acre a mile 
or so, just across the town boundary in Gran- 
ville, is the spot, recently marked by a bronze 
tablet set in the face of a bowlder, whither, 
in the spring of 1797, Rev. Daniel Bromley 
drew the timbers for the Beech hill Methodist 
Episcopal church of the Granville circuit — 
that church famous in the annals of Massa- 
chusetts Methodism. Notable gatherings and 
preachers never to be forgotten were there, 
as decade after decade the house aged, the 
population waxed and waned, until the build- 
ing, having stood nigh unto a century, went 
down. 

Only a little way back across the town 
boundary, in Blandford, stands the house 
built in those old days by that doughty 
Presbyterian deacon, Robert Loughead, or 
Lloyd. His initials are cut in the imposing 
door-plate on which the latch turns, a mech- 

207 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

anism wrought in iron, probably at the shop 
of his son John, who was a blacksmith first, 
then an innkeeper. The house looks young, 
and would bid fair to stand another century 
except for the fact that it occupies the fateful 
territory of Springfield's water system. It 
is a square, two-story house, the big chimney 
in the middle, and the inevitable box-like 
front hall, with crooked staircase, midway 
of the front, toward the street, while on the 
south end of the house, looking down toward 
the meeting-house, the corner door opens into 
the bar-room of yore,— for the house was a 
tavern. Under the paper coverings of the 
walls of this corner room, which is the living- 
room of the present occupants, are the marks 
of the old bar-room gate, or portcullis, and 
on either side of the chimney are the cup- 
boards where the various liquors were stored. 
The kitchen still has its great fireplace, nine 
feet wide, with brick oven and traditional 
paraphernalia still in well-nigh perfect preser- 
vation — almost the last relic of the kind left 
remaining in this old town of taverns. 

Here it was, in 1798, when the annual 
Methodist conference was convened in the 

208 




Front Stairway, Deacon Lloyd's House 



BEECH HILL 

as yet unfinished meeting-house near by, 
that Robert Lloyd, for want of convenient 
Methodist accommodations, boarded the 
Bishop and Rev. J. Lee. The good men felt as 
though they were among the Philistines. 
So on their departure the Rev. Lee, unwilling 
to have his blue Scotch Presbyterian host — 
and a deacon at that — knowing to the fact 
that his guests were paying their own way, 
took the silver money over to David Frost, 
who went and paid the bill. With such arts 
of worldly diplomacy was the simplicity of 
early Methodist piety mixed. Then the 
deacon's unregenerate boys were heard brag- 
ging over that good Methodist silver money — 
more acceptable by far than Methodist doc- 
trine. "Behold, how good and how pleasant 
it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" 
To return for a moment to Benjamin Scott 
and his neighborhood, in the southwestern 
corner of the town, that gentleman headed 
a petition to the highway commission in 
1804, a petition which was presently granted, 
to lay out "a new highway or Common road 
between the Counties of Hampshire and 
Berkshire near Benjamin Scotts in Blandford 

209 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

& running near Jedediah Smiths in said 
Blandford so on by Elihu Stowes in Gran- 
ville to Westfield Academy." The three 
landmarks bulked large in the thoughts of 
the people. The road began "a little to the 
Northeast of Joseph Whitneys barn," thence 
proceeding, doubtless through the great 
swamp, in a southeasterly direction, "to the 
old Town road." The latter was without 
doubt one laid out in 1769, rather obscurely 
described in the town minutes, and naming 
"Jed'* Smith Esq" house," as a prominent 
landmark. The old road traverses a high 
table-land, with only one considerable break 
in the contour until Squire Smith's house is 
reached, a distance of about four miles from 
the town and county bound. From the little 
settlement at the westerly end of this road to 
the Smith house there is now but one per- 
manently inhabited dwelling, and the road, 
once swarming with busy and exciting life, 
is grass-grown and almost deserted. There 
is a little cemetery on the hill, a mile or so to 
the west of Beech hill, and just on the westerly 
borders of Beech hill itself are still standing 
the ancient Butler and Ripley houses, the 

210 



BEECH HILL 

latter the salt-box structure last occupied 
by that old veteran, Benjamin Harris. 

Between the houses last mentioned and the 
little cemetery beyond is a road running 
northerly at right angles to the one just 
described, on the dividing line between lots 
26 and 29 and between 25 and 30, until it 
joins the old Berkshire road a quarter of a 
mile east of Blair pond. On the easterly side 
of this road John Lloyd bought a farm in 
1800, and presently erected a small house 
which was in later years moved from its 
original location some rods to the north.* 
Other cellar holes besides the one thus left 
exposed are round about there, on both sides 
of the road, in pastures fast growing up to 
forest. A persistent tradition has it that 
John Lloyd aspired to cater to that part of 
the traveling public who were in search of 
health, and advertised as among the merits 
of the place a sulphur spring with healing 
qualities. It was said that a colored man 
who dug the well was cured of a sore on his 
leg by virtue of those waters. But the well, 
or spring, contained no mineral and no 

* It has been known of late as the Jefferson Moore place., 

211 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

sulphur except what was imported into it. 
Traditions about John Lloyd as an innkeeper 
hover over various sections of Beech hill. 
That he did blacksmithing there is certified 
by sufficient and palpable records. The only 
license that I have discovered in his name 
dates from 1808 to 1811, when he had charge 
of the corner tavern in the village. 

In the olden days Blandford always had 
much to do with Connecticut. Both com- 
mercial and social attractions caused the 
people to gravitate southward rather than 
eastward or westward. On the southward 
journey from Blandford village Beech hill 
came first, then one or other of the Gran- 
villes. Like Blandford, that town was widely 
scattered, but unlike Blandford, there were 
three parishes in Granville, not reckoning 
the Beech hill Methodist church. There were 
the east, middle and west parishes, all Con- 
gregational. From the Devil's Half -acre 
directly southward, past Robert Lloyd's and 
the Beech hill Methodist meeting-house and 
down the southerly slope of the hill, turning 
westerly into a little valley, one comes to the 
head waters of the Granville branch of Little 

212 



BEECH HILL 

river. There is a wide-spreading meadow 
which the city of Springfield is about to flood 
with a reservoir, where stands one of Gran- 
ville's fine old brick residences, made of clay 
from the home farm. The house will soon 
be no more. Following down the brook once 
known by the classic name of Peebles' brook, 
but now for some unknown reason marked 
on the Government maps as Borden brook, 
one presently enters the territory of Bland- 
ford again. Rounding the curves of the 
brook, crossing the same northerly, crossing 
again pretty soon the other branch now 
known as Peebles' brook, one climbs up the 
steep hill to the South street heights. The 
old County lay-out of this road was described 
as crossing "Westfield little River," the 
second of the brooks just referred to; then 
climbing the hill, it passed "2 rods East of 
Silas Noble's," and "East on John Noble's;" 
"then the Causey" next, "2% rods west of 
Thompson's Door," by "Sinet's house" and 
"2 rods west of Wil m Lougheads Door." 
This was the East Granville road. 

Or the two streams may be crossed a little 
higher up, westerly, through similar chasms, 

213 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

with a larger distance intervening between 
the two brooks. The ridges on either route 
are rugged and sightly. The upper road 
brings one into the village through the 
southernmost section of the westerly tier of 
first division home lots, while the other road 
crosses the. easterly tier. The lower route 
entered the village, a century ago and more, 
over what is now Sunset rock; the upper 
route connecting with the present village 
street just below the meeting-house hill. 
Both these highways were adopted as county 
roads as early as 1771, under the phraseology, 
"a County road from Granville to Blandford 
& from Blandford to Granville again." 

There was another and nearer route from 
Beech hill to the village. Starting again 
from Robert Lloyd's, coming directly down 
to the Devil's Half-acre, over a rolling plateau 
from which the meeting-house at the centre, 
the towering pines of the ten-acre lot and the 
present village including the Methodist church 
stand out against the sky line, the road runs 
along a fairly level country for nearly or 
quite a mile, when it dips suddenly down 
and yet downward to the brook which from 

214 



BEECH HILL 

the town's almost earliest existence turned 
out the grist and sawed the lumber of the 
fathers. Here in this hollow, some distance 
above the upper of the two other routes, 
the road crossed the bridge spanning the 
stream "near Frary's Mills," then turning to 
the north again, passed the mills themselves 
where the old Peebles' mill is now crumbling 
to ruin, awaiting the time when its waters 
shall be turned to quench the thirst and turn 
the motors of the "City of Homes." This 
too became a county road in 1802, terminating 
at "a stake and Stones about 30 rods South 
of Ashmuns barn," and was called, except 
that part of it lying north of Devil's Half- 
acre, the road "from the Meeting House in 
Middle Granville to the Meeting House in 
Blandford." It was this road, past Stowe's 
in Granville, past Squire Smith's and 
through the mill hollow, which became a part 
of the highway of the Eleventh Massachu- 
setts Turnpike Corporation.* 

* A part of this old road appears to be what is now remembered by some 
elderly people as "the skunk road." 



215 



Chapter Eight 

Social Functions of the Tavern 



f~\ ~~^HE tavern was the people's club. 
There they met together for the 
common exchanges of life as they 
assembled on Sunday for their religious 
exchange. There they discussed the topics of 
the neighborhood, chatted with strangers 
and travellers, asked of the stage driver the 
news, talked politics, and in fine did that 
which the modern citizen now does at the 
club and over his newspaper. 

The tavern was the common medium of 
exchange. Traditionally it was the general 
news vender. Public notices were there 
posted, of town meetings, of public "vandues" 
and everything else. Traditionally, this was 
so. It is a little puzzling to find the town of 
Blandford, in 1808, when directing its officers 
concerning the places where notices of town 
meeting should be posted, specifying only one 
such house, namely "at or near the house 
lately occupied by John Lloyd." That seems 



SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE TAVERN 

to have been on Beech hill, or at the little 
inn with the fake sulphur spring. The other 
places were the meeting-house— another tra- 
ditional location — the guide post near Cor- 
nelius Cochran in the second division, the 
brick school-house near Samuel C. Gibbs, and 
the blacksmith shop then occupied by Ezra 
Jackson in the west part. By 1830 the 
places for such notices were shifted, by 
public vote, to the town house, Pease's mill, 
the guide board in the second division near 
Mr. Nutt's, Lyman Gibbs's store in North 
Blandford, and the school-house near Mr. 
Eli Shepard's — not a public inn among them, 
though there was one licensed store. 

Blandford taverns had their full share of 
entertaining. The town was on a principal 
highway of through travel, whether in peace 
or war. There was a good deal of change 
going on in the population. Not a few re- 
turned, permanently or otherwise, to Hop- 
kinton. New settlers came. The town grew 
in population, business and wealth as soon as 
the wars were over. Many of the swains 
brought home their brides from abroad. Par- 
ticularly, there was a Scotch- Irish circuit of 

217 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

towns throughout New England and Eastern 
New York, whose people had much to do 
with each other. They were more or less 
clannish, and were apt to intermarry within 
the limits of their own race. This combina- 
tion of conditions tended to keep Blandford 
true to her racial traditions at the same time 
that her people were brought into contact 
with the larger world. 

Neither Puritan New England nor that 
accretion of Scotch Presbyterianism which 
came in with the immigrants of 1718 was un- 
social, notwithstanding certain laws and tra- 
ditions seeming on the face of them to con- 
tradict such a statement. New England 
people had an ingrained hatred of pauperism, 
a deep-seated suspicion of vagrancy or irre- 
sponsibility, a strong respect for thrift and a 
sufficient appreciation of what it meant to 
pay taxes and support the institutions of 
civic life, to cement these qualities of mind 
thoroughly together. In pursuance of such 
sentiments and convictions, Massachusetts, 
as early as 1637, passed a law forbidding any 
town, under penalty of a heavy fine, enter- 
taining any stranger for a longer period than 

218 



SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE TAVERN 

three weeks. Allotment of land to strangers 
was furthermore carefully guarded. In pur- 
suance of this law it became the business of 
the constable, in behalf of the State, or 
county, or town, to repair to the house to 
which any stranger had come, and warn him 
out of town. This did not mean that the 
stranger must necessarily go right off, if at 
all. But it was at least a legal measure to 
free the town from liability for his mainten- 
ance should he prove himself incompetent of 
self-support. Sydney George Fisher* tells 
of a Virginian who had been much in New 
England, and who, as soon as he arrived at 
an inn, used always to summon the master 
and mistress and all the strangers who were 
about, and make a brief statement of his life 
and occupation, and having assured them 
that they could know no more, would then 
ask for his supper. Franklin, when he was 
travelling in New England, adopted a similar 
plan. The situation developed both humor 
and pathos. Somewhere on occasion, so Mr. 
Fisher tells, the sheriff appeared before a 
woe-begone intruder who failed to under- 

* In his "Men, Women and Manners in Colonial Times," p. 205. 

219 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

stand the formality, and said, half -laughing, 
"I warn you off the face of the earth." The 
hapless innocent fled post haste. 

The law, however, was by no means a dead 
letter, as hosts of entries in the town records 
show.* As has been intimated, the warning 
was read in the presence of the stranger, then 
the official registry was made. So the tavern 
became the frequent scene of this serio-comic 
performance. The result was that many a 
stranger who by his or her circumstances or 
habits became known as a prospective public 
charge was conveyed away out of town, 
preferably to the presumed place of citizen- 
ship. 

A few samples of entries on the town 
records are transcribed: 

Nov. 10, 1760. "Granted Sixteen Shillings 
and Six pence for warning and Caring persons 
out of town to John Wilson Constabel." 

Sept. 9, 1775. "Granted to matthew Blair 
Six Shillings for Carriing two women out of 
town that was like to be a town Charge." 

March 3, 1779. "Granted to D K Samuel 
Boies and Judah Bement one Pound ten 

* The entries are left, some of them, in the town records. Some of them 
are within keeping of the clerk of courts of the county. 

220 



SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE TAVERN 

Shillings for Carrying two Sick Soldiers to 
Westfield." 

Aug. 16, 1779. "Granted to Samuel Fer- 
guson Three pound eight Shillings for going 
to Westfield to get a warrant to Carry Marg' 
How out of Town." 

"Granted to John Scott Six pound for 
Service done to the Town in Taking Marg' 
How with a Warrant and going to a Lawyer 
to take Advice about the same by order of 
the Select men" 

April 2, 1781. "Granted to Sam" Cannon 
Fifty pound Continental money for carrying 
a Woman from Blanford to Louden & from 
Blanford to Westfield By Order of the Select 
men." 

Nov. 8, 1781. "Granted William Crooks 
Constable ten Shillings* for Carrying a Negro 
to Westfield." 

Jan. 25, 1785. Granted to Samuel Boies 2 d 
Eight Shillings for Caryng Sary Brown & 
Children to Becket by Warrant" 

"Granted Samuel Sloper Six Shillings for 
Entertaining Sary Brown 3 Days" 

"Granted to John Cochran Six Shilling for 

* Hard money. 

221 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

Transporting a family out of Town by 
warrant." 

' Granted Reuben Boies four Shilling for 
Entertaining a poor family." 

"Granted John Cochran Eight Shilling for 
Caring a poor family out of Town Wlu n 
Constable" 

A document filed with the clerk of courts 
at Northampton, is of interest from several 
points of view. "Pursuant to a Warrant 
under the hands of the Select men of the 
Town of Blandford bearing date of the 24 th 
of December 1759 Daniel Murphy Eleanor 
Murphy his wife Edmund Murphy Daniel 
Murphey who came from Sambreey.* The 
widow Susannah Phelps Samuel Phelps Sus- 
anna Phelps jun r who came from the nine 
partners — The widow Katherine Kar William 
Kar James Kar Eleanor Kar Katherine Kar 
Junior Who came from Westfield George M c 
Murag who came from Kend( rhook and Mary 
Phelps who came from the nine partners and 
Frederick Murphey who came from Sam- 
breey on the Last day of the same December 
were warned forthwith to depart and leave 
said Town of Blandford by Glass Cochran 

* Simsbury, Ct. ? 

222 



SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE TAVERN 

Constable of said Blanford as pr Warrant 
and return on file appears. 

Feb. 12, 1760." 
There is a headstone in the old burying 
ground which bears this inscription : 

In Memory of Miss Eleanor 

Ker, who died March 27 AD 

1778 aged 27 years. Daughte r 

of M" Katharine relict of M r 

William KER who was slain 

by the Indians at fort George 

in a morning scout August 

4, 1757. Aged 46. 

band, 
There fell the parent by the savage 

hand, g 
Here I was snatched by deaths unerrin 

has done 
Now gentle reader see what death 

sertain doom. 
And humbly wait your own your 

This tells something of the story of the Ker 
family. They stayed in town and none ap- 
pears to have become a public charge. As 
for "Frederick Murphey," the following items 
from the town records will testify. 

Dec. 3, 1766 "Granted Cap' William 

223 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

Carnahan Nine Shillings for keeping and 
Carring fradrack to westfleld 

"Granted to william Brown one Shilling & 
Six pence for hors to westfleld to Carry 
fradrack merphy."* The warrant seems to 
have held good for over a half a generation. 

Blandford landlords seem to have had some 
unusual antipathy to the office of constable — 
rather contrary to New England tavern 
traditions, — but a careful reader of these 
pages will find some familiar names, after 
all, among those who served their town as 
indicated in the above items. 

Certain wayfarers had proceeded to the 
town of Springfield in September, 1746. 
Forthwith, as the official records of the county 
set forth, they were warned to depart. 
"Pursuant to Warrant under the hands of 
the Selectmen of the Town of Springfield 
John McKinstry and Jinny his wife and John 
their Child .... Robert Hazzard and 

* Others who were "legally warned to depart" as found in the town records 
are the following: Robert Hamilton "and mary his wife," 1760; 
• "mary Loughead," wife of John Loughead, "mary Ross," "Agnes 
Welch and Elizabeth her Child," 1760; James Freeland, Aug. 24, 
1761; John Hobbs, April, 1766; Jacob Parker, Aug. 22, 1766; 
William Peterson, Feb. 17, 1767; Grace Phelps, Dec. 7, 1771. she 
was from Westfleld "and is now residing at the house of James 
Bairds Junr. John Baird, Constable." The names are to be found 
chiefly in the files of the clerk of courts, and I have not collected 
them. 

224 



SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE TAVERN 

Margaret his Wife . . Transient persons, was 
by Caleb Ely Worned forthwith to depart and 
leave Said Town, as p r said War on file appears" 
Of this company at least John and "Jinny" 
McKinstry appear to have been on their way 
to Blandford, where they settled down. They 
had doubtless been found at the tavern. 

In the seventeenth century the regulations 
had been very strict. The Boston town 
records of 1723 required that, inasmuch as 
"great numbers have very lately been trans- 
ported from Ireland to this Province," in the 
fear that they might become chargeable, they 
should be registered. Even in the eighteenth 
century Boston was requiring notice to the 
town authorities on the part of any who 
desired to entertain strangers. "Harboring 
strangers, and even relatives, was a constant 
source of bickering between authorities and 
citizens, and between different towns. The 
purchaser of a slave was responsible to the 
town for maintenance. Householders did 
not let or hire without interference."* Bland- 
ford town records show several instances of 
the registry with the town clerk — possibly 

* These facts and excerpts are taken from "The Economic and Social 
History of New England," by William B. Weeden. 

225 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

the same was published in the tavern — of 
visitors, hired help or tenants. Is it any 
wonder that the rural New Englander, who is 
true to his heritage, to this very day looks 
out of his window to see who passes his door, 
and in the evening, at "the store," pronounces 
judgment on his fellow men, stranger and 
homeborn alike? And is it not in the line 
of tradition also that the modernized local 
reporter, with all the arts of the inquisition 
except that of physical torture, discovers 
and spreads on record for all the curious 
world to read, who thou art and the words 
thou speakest in thy bedchamber ? 

The drinking habits of the people of all 
New England as well as of our little town 
were so centralized and represented by the 
tavern, and, as the years moved on, by the 
store so generally licensed to deal in liquors, 
as to merit some further notice than has yet 
been given to them in these pages. Cider 
drinking was universal, at home and abroad. 
The apple orchard was planted, pruned and 
thought of in this connection almost solely. 
Hence, the zeal of pastor Keep in his first and 
single-handed fight against the liquor habit 

226 



SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE TAVERN 

began with the parsonage orchard. Cider 
was drunk at home, was given to babies, 
was consumed by fine ladies and, with a 
brace of rum added to it, by farmers in the 
hay field. It was served to guests at the 
taverns regularly "with their vittles." Rum 
was also much used by the common people. 
Samuel Sloper sold immense quantities of it. 
This beverage reached the height of its 
popularity in the middle of the eighteenth 
century, when there were more than three- 
score distilleries in Massachusetts turning 
molasses into rum. It was the moving power 
in all commerce, and was the life of the West 
India trade.* Later brandy became popu- 
lar. This was made in large quantities in 
Blandford, notably by Jedediah Smith. Irish 
and Scotch settlers generally made whiskey 
from rye and wheat, barley and potatoes, 
even from corn. 

Of course this sort of thing could not go on 
for ever without some lurid consequences. 
I have been told by an old resident familiar 
with the family traditions that in a certain 
section of the town, now mostly deserted of 

* V. Economic and Social History of New England, p. 641. 

227 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

inhabitants, it was hard to find a family that 
had not lost some member by death from 
delirium tremens. Says William H. Gibbs:* 
"Tradition informs us that in those days 
the man who could drink the most and walk 
the straightest was the best fellow. Indeed, 
some of our ministers were not entirely free 
from this habit. It is said that one of them 
was frequently so excited with ardent spirits 
that he would preach until sunset. This 
town was settled with 'Scotch- Irish' with 
increasing habits of intemperance, which 
elicited the following remark from a gentle- 
man residing in Springfield, while passing 
through the town. Looking at the old 
church, he said, 'You have a high church and 
a low steeple, a drunken priest and cursed 
people.' " Such traditions, once they have 
become fixed and passed along, have lost 
nothing in the progress of transmission. 
Rev. James Morton was convivial, but he 
was not drunken, if we may trust the findings 
of more than one ecclesiastical council con- 
vened to examine and pass upon his character 
and measures. Rev. H. L. Hastings, of more 

* Historical Address, p. 49. 

228 



SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE TAVERN 

than local fame, a native of Blandford, stated 
in an historical address about ten years ago: 
"I know an old cellar in the town of Blandford 
where I have been told that 200 barrels of 
cider have been stored in the fall, and rolled 
out in the spring and distilled into brandy, 
which was drank and sold; and the man 
who owned that cellar was a preacher of 
the gospel." That was undoubtedly "priest 
Morton." 

Now if all this were the only, or the chief 
thing which might be said of these times 
and these men and women, it would better 
be forgotten. The fact is, the town of 
Blandford was in those old days a shining 
example among almost countless towns 
whose illustrious sons and daughters and 
whose common folk, — unnamed and for- 
gotten as individuals by this generation, 
except as Colonial Dames and Sons and 
Daughters of the Revolution and what-not 
are bedecking themselves with honor be- 
cause of these self-same people of the olden 
time, — made New England to be what she 
has been. If now and then there was a 
Falstaff, there were also kings and queens 

229 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

and princes and princesses among men. The 
point is, these people, some of whom have 
been named in these pages — and not to the 
shame or embarrassment of any right-spirited 
descendant — were men and women of 
strength and nobility as well as of occasional 
infirmity. For the most part, as we have 
observed, the chief exponent of this business, 
the taverner, and often his cousin, the licensed 
store keeper, were true builders of society. 
That passion and the trail of disaster and 
sorrow followed often upon their careers is so 
trite a fact as now to be taken almost for 
granted, and the more so as the decades 
multiplied and society passed from the primi- 
tive condition to the more complex life. Yet 
it becomes our quest to dwell a little more 
explicitly on this deepening shadow before 
we leave it. 

The story of mortgages and execution 
sales has been only hinted at. The detail 
of it all is too dry and infinitesimal for these 
pages. They count up by the score, and with 
a fatal tendency lead to the door of the 
tavern or licensed grocery. Perry Button 
had a farm and saddler's shop down in the 

230 



SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE TAVERN 

neighborhood where the Hatches and Blairs 
with Solomon Noble and Russell Attwater 
figured so prominently. This interesting in- 
dividual was ever in hot water with Ben- 
jamin Scott or some other landlord, until it 
became a question whether his whole estate 
would not slip out from under him. Archi- 
bald Black liquefied large acres in like manner 
at Capt. Pease's bar-room. Dr. Little suf- 
fered similarly for too much tarrying with 
Solomon Noble and Eleazer Slocum. Giles 
Dayton fell into the toils at Scott's and 
Bunnell's, but nobly retrieved himself for 
discipleship to Methodism and temperance 
reform. Simeon Morgan paid over too freely 
at the bar of Joseph Bull, and perhaps of others, 
to the extent of bankruptcy, having involved 
himself inextricably, if not criminally, with 
funds of the town and of the church. And 
so it went. The early Washingtonian move- 
ment and its succeeding phases of temper- 
ance reform produced history in Blandford as 
well as elsewhere, and the records of these 
societies throw some additional light on the 
conditions which the movement had to meet. 
Some statistics were gathered in 1834 under 

231 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

direction of a county organization, and re- 
ported first to the local society as follows : 

"Population of the town, 1,600; members 
of the society, 400; number who have re- 
nounced the traffic in ardent spirits, 2; 
number, including taverns, still continuing 
the traffic, 3; quantity of ardent spirits sold 
last year, 700 gallons; expense thereof, $1,000; 
no paupers in town; criminals prosecuted 
the last year, 4; expense of prosecution, $40; 
two small distilleries in town." The next year 
the committee reported a membership of 
"about 450," and that there were four 
grocery stores in town, none of them selling 
liquor, with one inn, and one innholder 
dispensing the beverages. 

In 1844 the temperance organization re- 
ported these findings: 

Total number of public houses in Blandford, 17, 

Whole number of occupants 39, 

Number that lost all their property 18, 

Number that left no better as to property 18, 

Number that made property 3, 

Number that became intemperate 15, 

Number of wives that became intemperate 4, 

Number of sons " 26, 

Number of daughters that became intemperate 4 , 

232 



SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE TAVERN 

Number that died in the poor house 1 , 

Number who died of delirium tremens 3, 

all of which is a sufficiently gruesome show- 
ing. One may discount the figures a little 
for the sake of impartial truth, and have 
enough left to justify abundantly the reform 
movement whose organization had but fairly 
begun where the limits of our story have been 
reached. 

The Old Farmer s Almanac was in the field, 
widely circulated. In its sphere — and it 
was large — it yielded an immense influ- 
ence. It doubtless reflected, in all particu- 
lars touched upon, the true condition of 
rural society, when it made these sallies in 
its edition of 1812 : 

(April) ' 'Heigh-ho-hum! Here, John, take 
the jug and run down to 'Squire Plunket's 
and get a quart of new rum. Tell him to put 
it down with the rest and I'll pay him in rye, 
as I told him. Come, Eunice, hang on the 
tea-kettle and let us have some sling when 
John gets back. Wife, how long before 
breakfast?' 'Alas, husband, where is this to 
end? Our farm is mortgaged, you know; 
the mare and colt are both attached; last 

233 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

week the oxen were sold; and yesterday the 
blue heifer was driven away; next goes our 
grain and at last, I suppose, I must give up 
my wedding suit, and all for sling! A plague 
on the shopkeepers — I wish there was not a 
glass of rum in the universe ! Now, husband, 
if you will only spruce round a little, like 
other men, and attend to business, I have no 
doubt we can get along. See Capt. Sprightly, 
he is up early and late, engaged in business. 
He lets no moment pass unimproved. See 
even now, while we are but just out of bed, 
he has been this hour with his boys in the 
field! Why can't we be as earnest, and as 
cheerful, and as prosperous as they? Come, 
come, hus, let us make an effort.' 

(July) " 'There, there! run, John, the hogs 
are in the cornfield;' cried old lady Lookout, 
as she stood slipshod over the cheese-tub. 
'I told your father, John, that this would be 
the case; but he had rather go day after day 
up to 'Squire Plunket's to drink grog and 
swap horses, than to be at a little pains to 
stop the gap in the wall, by which he might 
prevent the destruction of our beautiful corn- 
field ; and then, Johnny, you know if we have 

234 



SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE TAVERN 

corn to sell we can afford to rig up a little and 
go and see your aunt Winnypucker's folks.' 
'Aye, aye, mother, let us mind the main 
chance, as our minister told us the other 
day. You look to your cheese-tubs, I'll see 
to the hogs, and with a little good luck, by 
jinks, mother, we may be able to hold up our 
heads yet.' "* 

The forceful editor of the Old Farmer's 
Almanac might have come to Blandford as 
well as to any other town in the country for 
facts and incidents to write up the above 
quoted paragraphs. He would have found 
them in Jedediah Smith's records, and the 
records of mortgages and executions in the 
files in Springfield, as well as in neighborhood 
gossip. Sling was a modern drink having 
gin for its basis, and to a not inconsiderable 
extent it seems to have displaced flip, and 
not by way of improvement. Execution 
papers are now in evidence in the old Beech 
hill court-house, in which evidence is docu- 
mentary that sling abundantly paved the 
way to the sorrows of debt and insolvency. 

The fact hardly needs demonstration that 

* Quoted from George Lyman Kittredge's "The Old Farmer and His 
Almanac." 

235 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

the tavern, important and necessary as it 
was, was far from sufficient in itself. The 
weakness was inherent. But it was incidental 
nevertheless. The positive contribution 
which this institution made to New England 
life was greater than the curse which shadowed 
it. 

There remains to be indicated something 
of the peculiarly facile part which the way- 
side inn, as illustrated in this little town of 
Blandford, took in the development and ex- 
pression of stratifications of old New England 
society. Speaking of the closing years of the 
seventeenth century and the period imme- 
diately following, William M. Weeden, al- 
ready quoted in these pages, says:* "New 
England society in this period was working 
through its English traditions of rank and 
prestige, and settling into new codes of 

manners Mark the change the New 

Englander made. He believed that whatever 
was general, public, social, belonged all to- 
gether, and he would have his share, be he 
poor or rich, high or low in estate. The 
tendency toward fixed ranks, and anything 

* Economic and Social History of New England," p. 281. 

236 



SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE TAVERN 

like nobility of person, to be acknowledged 
and confirmed by the community, was re- 
pudiated by the mass of the citizens. There 
were institutions of property, no institutions 
of rank." The deeds and the pew lists of 
the old New England town afford the chief 
bases of calculation as to the ancient ideas 
which obtained in respect of title and rank. 
But it is hard to find out all that one would 
like to know about it.* 

It should be recognized that old New 
England never had any considerable popula- 
tion which could rightly be called a peasantry. 
The rank and file aspired to the dignity of 
yeomanry and for the most part abundantly 
attained unto it. To write "yeoman" after 
one's name was to signify a degree of in- 
dependence, thrift and self-respect worthy 
to originate or perpetuate the best traditions 
of a State. It implied the fact of land owner- 
ship, and the probability, though not the 
necessity, of the cultivation of the soil by the 

* I have searched diligently for some monograph on the subject, but in 
vain. Almost every respectable writer on old Puritan times and 
customs in New England devotes a paragraph, or possibly a page or 
two to this subject, but that is all. I have inquired of public libra- 
rians, to be turned away with sympathy, yet with no substantial aid. I 
ventured to address a letter of inquiry to perhaps the most volumin- 
ous and distinguished writer on these and kindred matters. Rightly 
or wrongly I inferred from this author's silence that more knowledge 
of the subject is a desideratum for others as well as for myself. 

237 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

freeholder bearing the distinction under con- 
sideration. There was an Act in Massachu- 
setts, passed in the seventeenth century, 
permitting a householder paying "rates" to 
the amount of ten shillings, to be admitted 
as a freeman. But it was represented that 
hardly three in one hundred paid that amount, 
and that a church member, "though he be a 
servant and pay not 2d., may be a freeman."* 
When, however, they all got inside the 
church, it was not piety chiefly that was the 
ranking principle, unless that had bestowed 
official or semi-official position. 

It is a curious fact that of the sixty-two 
names on the list 'of original settlers in Bland- 
ford, only three wrote the proud title of 
"yeoman" against their names as the deeds 
were passed. These three were the trustees 
of the church and ministerial lots, namely, 
Robert Huston, Benjamin Taylor and John 
Osborne. The matter is not quite easy to 
explain. One might suggest that it was be- 
cause they were just then wanderers, not 
substantially located, drawing lots of land 
as new settlers in a country where they were 

* ; Economic and Social History, etc., p. 269. 

238 



SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE TAVERN 

expected to buy farms, and where, as matter 
of fact, those who remained did buy farms. 
But in truth most of those men did not 
attain to the title of yeoman for long, long 
years. In many hundreds of deeds covering 
a period of a full generation, less than two 
score men in Blandford were ever written as 
yeomen. Nor can the fact be explained by 
the conjecture that it is mere coincidence 
or accident, for the deeds bear ample evidence 
that great care was used in these respects. 
With the exceptions noted, among that first 
company of emigrants from Hopkinton to 
New Glasgow, the men were simply character- 
ized by their trades. Of course the most of 
them by far were husbandmen, meaning in 
modern parlance simply farmer, which latter 
term also creeps into the deeds occasionally. 
The husbandman may or may not have 
owned his farm; but even if he did, there was 
lacking in the mere occupation and ownership 
some sentimental, traditional dignity and 
force of carriage to constitute him a yeoman. 
Perhaps he needed to prove his tenure and 
his worthiness by time. In the original 
instruments of conveyance of land to these 

239 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

Glasgow men, David Boies was nominated a 
"Taylor," Josiah Rice a "House Wright," 
Alexander Osburn a "Weaver," Robert Hus- 
ton a "Tanner," William Carr a "Cord- 
wainer," etc. But the great majority were 
husbandmen. A very few had, or came to 
have, the title of "gentleman," like James 
Wark, who used to be called upon to draw up 
the legal documents of the new settlers, even 
when they were obliged to send back to 
Hopkinton for the purpose — for this gentle- 
man did not stay long in the new country. 

The next title, or grade, above that of 
yeoman, was that last named. Probably no 
definition suited to the democracy of historic 
New England can be nearer to the facts than 
this from the Century Dictionary: "Any man 
of breeding, education, occupation or income, 
above menial service or ordinary trade; a 
man of good breeding, courtesy, etc." That 
was exactly it. Whether wealth and nothing 
else would land a man in the sentimental rank 
of gentleman may be open to question. Cer- 
tainly a little added social prominence or 
acceptability would, and wealth might easily 
assist any man of ordinary gifts to that end. 

240 



SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE TAVERN 

Education was not absolutely necessary. I 
have seen the title appended to the name of 
a man who, when he made a signature, was 
obliged to denote the same by "his mark." 
The man of literary profession was a "clerk," 
or "dark," to use the characteristic spelling 
and pronunciation of the Scotch-Irish. That 
title was preferred to the more general one of 
"gentleman," while it practically included 
the latter. 

The next designation in the civil order of 
ascent was that of the squire— Esquire. This 
was an official title, indicating a justice of 
the peace. But in Blandford at least it was 
broadened sufficiently to include one practic- 
ing the profession of the law, whether a judge 
or not. 

After the first generation, yeoman became 
the common mark of the Blandford citizen. 
Military titles gained in actual war service or 
militia training adorned the addresses of many 
citizens. These were scrupulously observed 
in common speech, as the marks of rank or 
grade in civil relations were not, except the 
title of squire. Just how the balance was 
struck as between the various grades of civil 

241 



TAVERNS ANP rURNPIKES 

and of military rank, and what difficulties 
and embarrassments m isequent upon 

the responsibility to scat the meeting-house 
when snob seating included, as it usually did, 
the whole town, must be left with the im- 
agination. There are n rds which can 
yield sufficient evidence. The fact that the 
task had to be repeated at frequent intervals 
is significant testimony that it was no eas] 
one, and that the equilibrium was very un- 
stable. "Age, pay and dignity" were I 
elements which had to be combined in the 
judgment, and no t mined and pains-taki 
chemist ever analyzed a si its 
component parts. i r went to work to pr >duce 
delicate combinations with greater nicety 
and: regard to fundamental laws of nature 
than the Now England committee who, after 
the pews were "dignified," went to work to 
place in the >riate occupants. The 
writer so ily quoted, aln in this 
chapter remarks, very aptly:* "If we had 
the whole record of >ings of the con- 
greg ying and seating their 
meml ers, it would picture forth the social 



SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE TAVERN 

condition of New England in our period. 
Ar: edie t be nv 

- rtaining or instructive- E* 
be ■ ed, and circumi 

mu embodied in tl i e of 

1 en the women! Court chamber- 
lains could not hi d all their subtile 
claii nrlicting ri Commits 
duly appointed, from time to time, worked 
out I lifficulti* tucL" 
The point to be hen ticularly empha- 

'1 is that to run a tavern fully for a 

series of years was a means of e' rtain pro- 
motion in social rank. Especially was this 

after the Revolution. Oi • 

at the county registry is irn: 
th the rise of the innki dignity 

of gentlemen, almost as following \ 
sion. The gradation is steady and it is 
strictly ob The candidate for wealth 

and honor who stood as proprietor of a public 
house might have been called, in the earlier 
of his ( an innkeeper, mere cften 

a yeoman. He mighl n a merchant, 

and so denominated. If he were quite suc- 
cessful, he was apt to be written down after a 

243 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

time, as "trader," a mark apparently a grade 
above that of "merchant," since his increas- 
ing profits, or his multiplying risks from 
accumulating charges on his books, gave him 
larger scope for buying and selling, or neces- 
sitated his taking mortgages on real estate, 
and so entering the real estate market. By 
and by he became a gentleman. Once that, 
even the dignity of yeoman faded. Once 
or twice indeed I have seen a reversal from 
the higher to the lower rank. It was probably 
a clerical error. At any rate, the solitary 
instance or two may count as conspicuous 
and lonely exceptions. It would be tiresome 
to run through the list of Blandford inn- 
keepers who attained to the title of gentle- 
man. But here it is in part: Samuel Sloper, 
Nathaniel Pease, Abner Pease, Justus Ash- 
mun, Timothy Hatch, Solomon Noble, War- 
ham Parks, Russell Attwater, Reuben Boies, 
Aaron Baird, Jedediah Smith, Asa Smith, 
James Hazzard, Samuel Boies, etc. Among 
those who became squires were Samuel 
Sloper, Justus Ashmun, Reuben Boies, War- 
ham Parks, Rufus Boies, Russell Attwater, 
Orrin Sage. 

244 



SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE TAVERN 

The sure prominence to which the persis- 
tent and successful innkeeper was advanced 
is further marked by the seat he was given 
in the meeting-house. That seat was not 
bought nor hired, though it was paid for. 
The place was assigned. In the plan of 1796 
the arrangement was like this. In the front 
seat before the pulpit, with Mrs. Rev. Joseph 
Badger and "wido Morton" were William 
Boies and Robert Blair, both deacons, and 
one, if not both, innkeepers. Across the 
broad aisle, the corresponding front seat con- 
tained Samuel Boies and Ephraim Gibbs, 
also both deacons and innkeepers. On either 
side the broad aisle next behind these were 
Samuel Boies 2nd, Reuben Boies, Justus 
Ashmun, Col. Sloper; in the next tier, Lieut. 
Abner Pease, Jedediah Smith and Capt. 
Timothy Hatch, all innkeepers or dealers in 
strong liquors. And so we might go on. 

Supported as it was by men of substance 
and character, the tavern became the social 
centre for the people so far as the church 
failed, or was not calculated, to realize for 
them that multifarious function. There 
seems not to have been in Blandford at any 

245 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

time any instance of that old-fashioned New- 
England resort known as the noon-house. 
There were plenty of taverns near the meet- 
ing-house, and the landlord was as willing 
that the people should come as the people 
were willing to go. There the sermon was 
discussed, and there the great problems of 
the universe were pushed forward toward 
solution. 

When the time came for awakening upon 
the subject of temperance reform the church 
was prominent in it all. It was not afraid 
to go right into the broad aisle and rebuke 
the men of substance and dignity. And this 
it did. Rev. John Keep was a fearless and 
effective pioneer. Dr. Eli Hall, who himself 
sold liquor for some years, became his staunch 
helper. William H. Gibbs, in his Historical 
Address, mentions Amos M. Collins as also 
prominent. It was high time for reform, 
not alone in Blandford, but in all the country. 
Too many boys were being drawn into the 
whirlpool. Ordinations have been men- 
tioned in these pages, on occasions when 
ministers sat down to drink. The fathers 
had eaten sour grapes and the children's 

246 



SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE TAVERN 

teeth had been set on edge. Rev. Dorus 
Clarke was ordained to the ministry of the 
old church in Blandford, Feb. 5, 1823. Daniel 
Butler, son of the Beech hill man whose 
coming was for a time made so unwelcome, 
was one of the boys who were taking in the 
excitement of the incident. Dr. Moore, presi- 
dent of Williams college, preached the sermon. 
"It was a very big day," said Dr. Butler, in a 
reminiscence of it many years later. For the 
first time this boy "saw the live president 
of a college, and he wanted in some way to 
celebrate the occasion, so he treated two 
boys to a mug of flip." It seemed the 
proper thing to do. It was the first glass. 
This boy and another presently saw the 
new minister's fiancee on one of those early 
spring days. "She must be a good young 
lady, because she is going to marry a 
minister," said one of them; "and she must 
be good looking, because that is the kind 
the minister likes." "Out of the mouth of 
babes and sucklings thou hast perfected 
praise," said One higher than the high; and 
so it fell out that the boy told the truth. He 
it was who had treated the rest to flip. That 

247 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

boy was not passing through the world with 
his eyes shut. The minister, not long after 
coming to Blandford, was taken seriously 
ill, and all were anxious. One morning this 
aforesaid Daniel and another boy "saw the 
daughter of the man with whom the minister 
boarded; so they together got up courage 
enough to go and ask her how he was. She 
stood and looked at them as if they were 
two interesting specimens of natural history, 
but never a word did she reply. But pretty 
soon a young man 'no better looking than 
we were,' ' put in Dr. Butler parenthetically, 
"came along and spoke to her and she an- 
swered him so that it pleased him." The 
young woman was Miss Sage, daughter of 
Blandford's most successful business man 
and benefactor of Williams college. The boys 
passed on, picking up more impressions, 
some good, some bad. But that drink of 
flip was Daniel Butler's first and his last. 
Rev. Dr. Butler became a shining light in the 
annals of Massachusetts history, full of humor 
withal, though to first appearance solemn 
in the extreme, much in demand as a captiva- 
ting after-dinner speaker, convulsing his 

248 



SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE TAVERN 

hearers by his wit. Not uncommonly he 
would grace the latter end of a festival pro- 
gram when the hour was late, and men 
could be seen looking him over, then quiet- 
ly stealing out to the door, when, if not 
too far beyond the sound of his voice, they 
would slink back again after the speech had 
begun, to join an audience already moved to 
hilarity and tears by his wit and eloquence. 
He cast it all on the side of righteousness and 
of the gospel of peace, and is not yet forgotten. 

Another of the boys in those early days was 
Cushing Eells, son of Joseph Eells whose 
home was at the foot of Birch hill, who for 
two or three years retailed liquors among 
the old aristocracy of the street. The boy 
Cushing became a pupil in a private school 
of Mr. Clarke in the winter of 1825-6, entered 
Williams college, from which he graduated, 
and became co-worker with Marcus Whitman, 
and the founder of Whitman college. 

Another of the boys was Samuel Knox, 
lovingly remembered by many now living, 
along with the other two just mentioned. 
Also a son of Williams, classmate of Cushing 
Eells, he became a learned judge, was inti- 

249 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

mate with President Lincoln when the former 
was in Congress representing the State of 
Missouri, and at the outbreak of the Civil 
War was a power in turning the hearts of 
Blandford youth to enlist for their country's 
cause. He too was a man of faith and 
godliness. 

Many another youth who was turned in 
these early days of reform away from the 
baleful influences of the prevailing vice might 
here be named. It is because of these 
counter influences that to-day it is possible 
for us to pursue the study of the tavern with 
interest which is not chiefly painful. The 
tavern has meant much to New England, 
but it could never support itself without 
the strong help of the church, which ever 
exercised something of a visitorial power 
over it. The tavern and the saloon were 
never reformed from within, but from without . 

Note: — There is a considerable list of 
licensees, beginning with the very earliest 
generation, whom research has not availed 
to locate or satisfactorily identify. They 
are these : 

250 



SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE TAVERN 

Matthew Barber, 1742; Gad Stebbins, 1797; 
JohnS. Douglas, 1798; Eliphalet Lamb, 1799; 
Aaron Fish, 1802; Enos Alvord, 1817— possi- 
bly in the spot or neighborhood where 
Timothy Hatch first operated.* • Besides the 
above were these licensed retailers, in the 
same category of uncertainty: Elisha Buck 
Sheldon, 1783; Samuel Hopesby, 1785; 
William Stewart, 1793 ;f NoahShepard, "bb," 
1797; Henry Wales, 1800; I. W. Knowlton, 
1802; Robert Waterman, 1803-1806, appar- 
ently somewhere about the northeasterly 
skirts of Beech hill. The Blandford career 
of these men, so far as innkeeping or store- 
keeping was concerned, was short, and, it 
may be inferred, unimportant. 

* V. Registry, Vol. 56, p. 684. 

t He lived in a log house in the northeast corner of town, in the Murray- 
field district, but sold that in 1784. V. Registry, Vol. 24, p. 621. 



251 



Chapter Nine 

Turnpike Stories 



THE turnpike of 1829, known as the 
Hampden and Berkshire turnpike, 
marked an era in the social history of 
Blandford. The road enters the town from 
the east through the lower and easier way be- 
tween Tarrot and Birch hills, instead of over 
the top of the latter, which was the way of 
the fathers. Hugging the streams, particu- 
larly following up the banks and meadows 
sought out by Potash brook on its way to 
the West field river, it both shortens the 
distance and lessens the elevation to be 
climbed. In essentials it is the present road 
from the Dayton-Rowley neighborhood of 
yore up through the village, through North 
Blandford and on past the western boundary 
of the town to Lee. In part it is identical 
with the old post route, or Berkshire road; 
so far, that is, as it immediately approaches 
and passes through the central village. But 
from the Centre westward, it cut a new 



TURNPIKE STORIES 

course, crossing the old Gore lane about a 
mile below the village, proceeding through 
the "intervale" at the Gore, continuing thence 
directly to North Blandford, whence it pushed 
on westerly to Lee. It was the first direct 
connection which the two villages had ever 
had. But North Blandford was then in its 
youth. 

In his Historical Address* William H. 
Gibbs remarked that this road was laid out 
"through the poorest part of the town. 
Strangers passing over this road," he adds, 
"form an unfavorable opinion of our soil and 
enterprise. Soon after the completion of the 
road, an honest Shaker came along and 
called upon a blacksmith, and remarked that 
he supposed it was necessary to sharpen the 
noses of sheep to enable them to pick grass 
from among the rocks and stones. Stages 
ran (where it was level) upon this road, and 
carried the mail until the Western Railroad 
went into operation." There are some ex- 
cessively stony pastures and forest-covered 
drumlins along the way. But in sooth the 
road is not so bad as the lecturer just quoted 

* P. 47. 

253 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

made it out to be. The hills are not so steep 
as in some other parts of town, the intervales 
are lovely, there are some superb mowing 
uplands in the Gore, and the outlook into 
the beautiful vale of North Blandford, as 
one rounds the hillside east of the village, 
is not easily forgotten, while the combination of 
brook, meadow, hill, and forest, as one pushes 
on westerly through "Number Three," be- 
stows on the sensitive beholder some- 
thing of the feeling of enchantment. 

This turnpike shortly revolutionized the 
traffic of the country hereabout. Two of 
the four daily stages which had run for years 
by the Boston and Albany road, up and down 
through the old town street, were transferred 
to this turnpike, while an immense and in- 
cessant traffic of business and pleasure de- 
veloped and continued until, gradually, the 
railroad brought quiet and solitude again. 
What commotion this new line of travel 
stirred within the town itself by way of 
re-adjustment to new conditions is dimly 
echoed in the county records. A network 
of crooked roads had pervaded the Gore; 
now there was a thoroughfare. The old post 

254 



TURNPIKE STORIES 

route itself was in large part side-tracked 
by the new turnpike. The selectmen of the 
town petitioned the court, in this year 1829, 
to discontinue some of these roads, or sec- 
tions thereof, a thing which was shortly 
accomplished. The committee in charge 
were ordered to meet at the house of Luther 
Laflin at eight o'clock on the ninth of Sep- 
tember, and notice, to meet the legal re- 
quirements , was given in the Springfield Re- 
publican. 

There was one toll-gate on this 'pike within 
the limits of the town, about a mile below 
the village. Later, there was another, suc- 
ceeding the first one, a little lower down. 
That house is still standing, familiarly known 
as the gate -house, at the junction of the old 
mountain road and the newer one under 
review. 

Thereon hangs a tale of local turmoil and 
ferment, altogether illustrative of the time 
and of the spirit of New England democracy. 
By what right, of nature or of heaven's law, 
was a citizen freeman of old New England 
to be stopped in the midst of the highway 
and demanded to pay toll for his passage? 

255 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

Answer: The road is in the hands of an 
incorporated company who keep it in repair; 
the citizens are no longer taxed to maintain 
it, and by statute the company are author- 
ized to make themselves good by certain 
specified tolls. "Very well, then," said one 
of Blandford's proud and judicial citizens, 
"they must make that road down the moun- 
tain so smooth that I may take a glass 
tumbler and roll it down from top to bottom 
of the hill without breaking the glass!" A 
little knot of objecting wits got together to 
talk turnpike and the toll. "As for the 
turnpike," said they, "we will make a shun- 
pike; we'll tap the 'pike on one side of the 
gate, pass 'round and connect on the other; 
then where will their tolls be?" The shun- 
pike talk was the go for a time, and the scheme 
was actually carried into effect. But the 
General Court stepped in and levied fines on 
all shun-pikers far more tyrannous than toll- 
gate demands. At least one such shun-pike 
in Blandford was blockaded by force and 
judicial authority. So it went. A woman, 
when the usual toll was demanded of her, 
drove the keeper into the house with a horse 
whip, and a law suit resulted. 

256 




1 Gate House, Turnpike of 1829 
2 Tavern at North Blandford, Built by Norton and Ely 



TURNPIKE STORIES 

Rhode Islanders objected to the toll-gates 
on this fashion, to quote a paragraph from 
President Dwighfs Travels* "that turnpikes 
and the establishment of religious worship 
had their origin in Great Britain : the govern- 
ment of which was a monarchy, and the 
inhabitants slaves; that the people of Massa- 
chusetts and Connecticut were obliged by 
law to support ministers, and pay the fare of 
turnpikes, and were therefore slaves also; 
that if they chose to be slaves, they un- 
doubtedly had a right to their choice; but 
that free born Rhode Islanders ought never 
submit to be priest-ridden, nor to pay for 
the privilege of travelling on the highway. 
This demonstrative reasoning prevailed." In 
1805, however, even "free-born Rhode Islanders 
bowed their necks to the slavery of travelling 
on a good road." Massachusetts people 
yielded more easily than this to the spirit of 
progress, and turnpikes in Western Massa- 
chusetts became both numerous and popular. 

Toll-gates were placed at intervals of ten 
miles, and located under the authority of the 
highway commissioners. The tolls were grad- 

* Vol. II, pp. 37-38. 

257 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

uated along a somewhat complicated scale, 
ranging from twenty-five cents for the passing 
of "each coach, chariot, phaeton, or other 
four-wheeled spring carriage, drawn by two 
horses," to "all sheep or swine, at the rate of 
three cents by the dozen." The regulations 
were embodied in the statutes in the years 
1804, 1814 and 1817, and they reflect per- 
fectly the travelling conditions of the day 
for Blandford turnpikes as well as for those 
of other towns. The highest rate would 
very seldom be charged because only the 
very wealthy had vehicles that would occa- 
sion such toll. Wagons were a luxury and 
were licensed by the state. A precious docu- 
ment is now in the possession of John Noble's 
descendants which reads thus:* "This is 
to certify that John Noble of the town of 
Blandford in the County of Hampden in the 
seventeenth district of Massachusetts, has 
paid the duty of one dollar for the year to 
end on the thirty-first of December next for 
and upon a four wheel carriage called a 
waggon and the harness used therefor owned 
by him. This certificate to be of no avail any 

* Italics represent written words in printed blank. 

258 



TURNPIKE STORIES 

longer than the aforesaid carriage shall be 
owned by the said Noble unless the said 
certificate shall be produced to a collector, 
and an entry to be made thereon, specifying 
the name of the then owner of said carriage, 
and the time when he became possessed 
thereof. Given in conformity with the laws 
of the United States, this eleventh day of 
Jan v one thousand eight hundred and sixteen, 

Thomas Shepard, 

Collector for the 17th district of 
Massachusetts." 
Tradition adds that so great was the com- 
motion over John Noble's possession and two 
other wagons driven into town at the same 
time from the South street district, that 
action was taken in town meeting concerning 
the dangerous innovation. The town records, 
however, yield no such interesting material. 
The traditional seat of this wagon of John 
Noble's is a well preserved relic in possession 
of descendants to-day. There were several 
"first" wagons in town, of which this was 
one. An occasional wagon proudly occupied 
the highways long before this time. In 1794 
Solomon Noble hired a horse and wagon of 

259 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

Jedediah Smith to go to Williams town. 
Chaises were in use, but, so far as the hill 
country was concerned, no doubt they were 
confined to the more wealthy or privileged. 
When Rev. Dorus Clarke brought home with 
him from Longmeadow his bride, in May of 
1824, they came in a new chaise. They 
were accompanied as far as Westfield by a 
long line of chaises, and were met by a de- 
tachment from Blandford, also in chaises. 
The minister "had a horse which he had been 
accustomed to drive in a sulky," to quote 
from the story of Mrs. Clarke to her grand- 
children many years after, "but when he got 
this new chaise, which was very heavy — 
a very nice chaise — there being two of us, 
too, the horse was disinclined to do his duty. 
He used to stop and rear on those steep roads. 
Our lives were wonderfully preserved. I 
often think of it." But Rev. John Keep, at 
least in the earlier years of his ministry, 
which began in 1805, rode a horse, and his 
wife rode behind him on a pillion — this on 
his own written testimony. There was a 
local proverb, he said, to the effect that a 
wagon would not stand anywhere in town 
unless it was blocked. 

260 



TURNPIKE STORIES 

It must not be supposed that the people 
of Blandford were behind the age. Wagons 
drawn by horses began to come into general 
use only after the nineteenth century had 
dawned. Country carts and wagons were 
generally drawn by oxen, from two to six 
in number according to the load to be drawn 
or the distance to be covered. The tradi- 
tional objection to the use of horse wagons — 
and the tradition is persistent, attaching 
generally to all the "first" wagons of the 
sort — was on account of the actual or pre- 
sumed fright of horses at so unusual a sight. 

The period of early turnpikes and toll-gates 
was that also of the great westward emi- 
gration. As railroads were yet to be, of 
course the ordinary highways of the towns 
received an enormous amount of traffic and 
travel. To get before us the picture of all 
this, no document or tradition could be more 
explicit, scarcely more vivid, than the law 
covering the imposition of toll. This, in 
addition to what has already been quoted, 
was, in part, as follows: "For every cart or 
wagon drawn by two horses, ten cents, and if 
drawn by more than two horses, two cents 

261 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

for each additional horse; for every cart or 
wagon drawn by two oxen, ten cents, and if 
by more than two oxen, twelve and a half 
cents; for every cart or wagon drawn by 
more than four oxen or horses, two cents 
for each additional ox or horse; for every 
curricle, fifteen cents; for every chaise, chair, 
sulky or other two wheeled carriage for 
pleasure, drawn by one horse, six cents and 
one quarter of a cent; for each wagon or 
carriage, with four wheels, drawn by one 
horse only, according to the following rates 
of toll; that is to say, for every such carriage, 
the body or seats of which shall be placed on 
springs, and covered with cloth, canvas or 
leather, and used for the conveyance of 
persons and personal baggage only, twelve and 
a half cents; for every such carriage without 
springs, six cents; and for all other carriages 
of four wheels drawn by one horse, for the 
conveyance of persons and personal baggage, 
that rate of toll which is, or shall be, the 
nearest to the mean sum, in cents, between 
the two rates of toll above specified, as the 
same are or shall be established at each of 
such gates respectively; for every man and 

262 



TURNPIKE STORIES 

horse, four cents; for every sleigh or sled 
drawn by two oxen or horses, one cent for 
each additional ox or horse; for every sleigh 
or sled drawn by one horse, four cents; for 
all horses, mules or neat cattle led or driven, 
besides those in teams, one cent each." To 
discourage small tires which tended to cut 
the road and keep it rough and soft, regular 
tolls were halved for every vehicle having 
tires six or more inches wide. 

More than one aged Blandford resident 
has told me vivid stories of the life and 
traffic of the turnpikes. As compared with 
the modern country road, the turnpikes were 
rough and miry, "all chomped up," as one 
of them said who lived on this very turnpike. 
"You couldn't look out of the window, 
hardly," said she, "but you would see a team." 
Team after team of lime, drawn by four 
horses each, passed along from the Berkshire 
limekilns. Great droves of cattle, sheep and 
hogs were driven to the Brighton market 
Stages, here as everywhere throughout the 
country, were often getting stalled in the 
mire, when passengers had to evacuate, and 
the men, with the aid of neighbors, would 

263 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

help the tired and over-burdened horses lift 
the vehicle up and on to more solid ground. 

For lively local traditions of turnpike 
travel in Blandford I am obliged to levy 
upon a period just following that of my story, 
namely, the middle of the nineteenth century. 
In most essential respects, probably, it is 
but the prolongation of that over which the 
curtain of forgetfulness has been drawn for- 
ever. It is said that the Miner house in the 
village of North Blandford was at one time 
a tavern run by one Harrington.* Drivers 
of swine used to stop at his house, and the 
herds would be cared for in the barn. Har- 
rington, so the story goes, had a trap door 
in the floor of this barn. This he would open 
suddenly, when occasion seemed to him to 
favor his too ardent avarice, and a good fat 
hog would be unaccountably missing. But 
he did it one time too many, like most of- 
fenders. 

The tavern which held the prestige of the 
neighborhood was that still standing on the 
four corners, built by Messrs. Norton and 

* This much is certain, namely, that there was a Herrinton in the north 
village, but whether identical with the landlord of the tradition 
I know not. 

264 




Long Hill, Turnpike of 1829 



TURNPIKE STORIES 

Ely.* Of the doings at this house I am so 
fortunate as to have the reminiscences, de- 
livered to me at first hand, of an aged personal 
friend, who, only a dozen years or so after 
its first occupancy, became the efficient 
proprietress of the institution. These I 
transcribe as closely as may be, in her own 
picturesque language. f 

"How different everything is in 1902 from 
what it was in 1830, '40 and '50! In those 
days everyone had his own conveyance. 
Every kind of peddler and of peddler's wagon 
was going through the country. They sold 
whips, brooms, cigars, confectionery, etc. 
They always put up at some hotel at night. 
In those days hotels were only about eight 
or ten miles apart in the country. These 
peddlers would want a good supper, following 
which they would go into the bar-room and 
tell jolly stories. They were up betimes in 
the morning and on their way. 

"The hotel in this village was situated on 
the turnpike connecting Springfield and Al- 
bany. Over this turnpike four-horse stages 

* Now occupied by Mrs. Lee W. Higgins. 

t Copied from The Blandford Monthly, August. 1902 

265 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

ran every day carrying the mail and passen- 
gers. People from the towns below, going 
to Lee, Pittsfield, Lenox and Albany, some 
with very handsome turnouts, used to stop 
here for dinner or for the night. 

"Blandford was quite noted for parties 
and weddings. There was always a ball 
on the Fourth of July, New Year's and 
Washington's Birthday, dancing commenc- 
ing at one o'clock and continuing until morn- 
ing. This was after a supper of roast turkey 
and roast pig, the latter standing on his four 
feet and an orange in his mouth. Other 
things in the bill of fare were of a sort to 
rank with those mentioned. Some of the 
ladies and gentlemen went on horseback to 
attend the dances. To light the ball-room 
home-made tallow dips were set in tin re- 
flectors. The old people used to have a 
turkey dinner once a year at the hotel. They 
stayed into the evening, sang, played games 
and ran around the chimney playing 'Catch 
me if you can,' having the very best time 
that ever was. Weddings were no uncommon 
thing. One man, after he was married, 
stepped up to the minister and said, 'How 

266 



TURNPIKE STORIES 

much shall I pay you, Sir?' The minister 
replied, 'Whatever you please.' 'There is a 
two dollar bill,' said the groom in proud dis- 
play of his munificence; and the married 
pair went on their way rejoicing. A great 
many parties used to come from the Armory 
Hill in Springfield. They would stop for 
a week at the hotel and go fishing. 

' 'This old hostelry used to contain a picture 
gallery and different kinds of shows. One 
very nice set of people that used to stop at the 
hotel were the Lebanon and Hancock Shakers. 
They went to Enfield, Connecticut, every 
fall to visit a family there. They always 
rode in a long wagon, four women and two 
men. When these people eat, the men sit 
on one side of the table, the women on the 
other. When they come to the table, each 
drops on his knees by his chair, then each 
helps himself at the table. They never 
marry, and they do not eat together at home. 
When they are ready to go, one man holds 
the horses by the head, the other man holds 
the door open for the women to get into the 
wagon, with his face turned the other way. 
The women are very nice to visit with and 

267 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

very nice in their dress. They always carry 
beautiful fruit with them to eat on the road, 
and which they take from their own home. 

"One family from New Orleans liked the 
place so well that they came to North Bland- 
ford to board year after year. They brought 
with them cages of beautiful birds — the 
parrot, the mocking bird, the bird of paradise 
and other birds. 

"There was a tailor's shop full of girls who 
boarded at the hotel." 



268 



Chapter Ten 

The East Part and Westfield 
River Branches 



THE northeast corner of the township, 
embracing a half-dozen lots of five 
hundred acres each — about five square 
miles — is very nearly cut off into a right- 
angled triangle by the easterly boundary of 
the second division home lots, this line 
forming the hypothenuse of the triangle. 
The extreme northerly part of this section 
has for a half century or so belonged to the 
town of Huntington, and constitutes a con- 
siderable part of the business section of that 
town. It lies on the banks of the Westfield 
river where the two branches thereof, the 
east and west, unite. This locality was early 
known as the "Westfield River Branches." 
A mile and a half to the south of the river is 
Black's brook, whose waters begin their 
course entirely within the triangle under 
review. On all these streams early and 
thriving settlements were made. Between 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

them and the heart of Blandford street was 
also the centre of life of the old second 
division, whose street ran a career of ridiculous 
independence of nature for many decades, 
then finally succumbed to the hopelessness of 
the task. In the midst of this second 
division was Cochran pond, sometimes called 
Second division pond, an insignificant pool, 
at the lower end of which was a mill. The 
story of it belongs elsewhere, and may not 
now detain us except to take notice of the 
fact that a nerve ganglion of social life was 
there and across -roads. 

I have not been able certainly to discover 
that the second division street ever had a 
tavern, which is far from saying that it never 
did have one; and the same statements may 
apply to the existence of a store there, for 
the old street was not unimportant or lifeless. 
It was well populated, and its existence 
bulked large in the thought and life of the 
town. In 1750 it was ordered that "ther 
be a road of two Rood wide to rune Betwen 
y e second Dcvision Loots and y" East end 
of y e first Devision Loots all along acros y e 
first Devision Loots," but I find no record 

270 



WESTFIELD RIVER BRANCHES 

of that order ever having been carried out, 
except north of the Northampton road, where 
such a highway still exists. For several 
generations following the middle of the 
eighteenth century, the Blairs — Matthew, 
Robert, Isaac, Jacob and others, — ran a 
saw mill down on Freeland brook in the 
eighth home lot, east side. Besides other 
Blair licensees already mentioned, Isaac was 
in the business as retailer for three years 
beginning 1783. Possibly there was a store 
in this vicinity.* 

As has been already stated, a centre of 
interest was close above Cochran pond, where 
the old Cochran house stands with broken 
back ready to tumble down into the cellar, 
the great chimney still doing its best to hold 
it up, while the little white school -house 
across the way is threatened with submer- 
gence by the fast growing saplings about it. 

This second division centre had to be con- 
nected with the village on the other street. 
Two or three ways were tried, crossing or 
bordering on Israel Gibbs's two lots, numbers 
34 and 35, in each instance a short distance 

* The mill was not far from the bridge on the second division road below 
the second division school-house. 

271 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

to the south of the present road to Hunting- 
ton. Bridle paths must have existed from 
the earliest times, connecting the various 
settlements, but I find no record of a regular 
road which would accommodate the com- 
munity at Westfield river branches until 1765. 
There were two early road surveys in this 
part, but it is almost impossible now to trace 
them out. All the roads passed the Cochran 
house and pond, or ran very near, and the 
earliest road, or roads, intersected the farm 
lot numbered 37. Here Jonas Henry ran a 
tavern for three years or more beginning in 
1782. He had a farm overlooking the valley, 
where, let us hope, he and his guests fed their 
souls not altogether on the material things 
of the landlord's table and flowing bowl, 
but as well on the superb panorama of forest 
and stream, and hill and dale, which there 
the Creator has invited the eyes which see 
and the soul that comprehends, to behold 
and quaff the inspiration of. In the layout 
of a county road from Lenox to Becket, the 
committee for which, by the way, were Justus 
Ashmun, Samuel Sloper, Timothy Blair, sur- 
veyor, William Shepard and David Mack — 

272 



WESTFIELD RIVER BRANCHES 

three at least, Blandford men, and two of them 
taverners — allusion is made to "the high 
Way leading from West field to Partridge field 
between Jonas Henry House and Bridge," 
which might indicate that Henry was not 
very high up on the hill. 

At the foot of this hill, a little below the 
settlement, where the railroad crosses the 
north, or east, branch of the river, the two 
branches unite. The highway runs along 
the opposite, or south, side of the river. It 
is a most charming valley, the hills rising 
on either side in ever graceful convolutions, 
covered with verdure except where now and 
then a bare crag jutting out affords a pleasing 
contrast to the curvature of stream and 
mountain. On the two river branches above 
their junction are clustered the shops and 
homes of the village, upon which the pointed 
spires of two or three churches look peace- 
fully down. There was in the olden time 
a road running along the river bank, and one 
crossing it, as now, these roads proceeding 
on the one hand to the towns to the north, 
Norwich bridge being especially prominent. 



273 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

and another leading southward up the hill 
to Blandford town. 

The settlement at Westfield river branches 
was by nature designed to be one by itself. 
Its jurisdiction unfortunately fell within the 
boundaries of several towns. In the 'sixties 
there was a tavern down there operated by 
one Mixer. That was some distance up the 
east branch of the river, in the town of 
Murray field, now Huntington. The burial 
ground used by this settlement lies near the 
river on this east branch, and contains many 
graves of Blandford people, some marked, 
but many more undesignated except by 
unhewn stones. John Bolton lived on the 
hither side of the Blandford town line, in the 
northeast corner farm lot, numbered 38, 
owning twenty-seven acres between the two 
branches of the river. The lot embraced, 
as I suppose, the present railroad station and 
a not inconsiderable section of the village. 
In 1770 a county road was laid from North- 
ampton to Blandford passing through Murray- 
field. It mentions Bolton's "old house" on 
the hill just above the "steep pitch," and 
"John Bolton begs Leave of y e honorable 

274 



WESTFIELD RIVER BRANCHES 

Court," the document continues, "to make 
Gates and Bars or he Cant fence his field 
because the flood carries away his fence." 
Bolton identified himself with the interests of 
Murrayfield. 

In the early nineteenth century there was a 
store at the cross-roads at the foot of the hill, 
kept by one Falley. The place was long 
known as Falley 's X (cross) roads. 

The propensity which some of the men who 
lived in this valley had for "taking their 
recreation in the river by swimming" on 
the Lord's day, has already been related. 
They had succeeded in getting themselves 
very much before public attention forty years 
before, in the very earliest period of settle- 
ment life down there. How many there were 
is not of record, nor why they were any more 
reluctant than the rest of the town to pay 
their "Provance tax." Tax-paying was not 
too eagerly indulged in by anyone. For 
some reason unrecorded and unknown the 
men of this neighborhood in 1762 refused to 
pay, or were slow in paying, the Province 
tax. Record of a town meeting held June 
16, 1762, notes that "Insign W w Knox & 

275 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

John Boies" were chosen a committee "to 
go to y e men at West field River Branches to 
see what Demands they" had "one the 
Town." William Boies was appointed at 
the same time to seek legal advice in case the 
committee of two desired it. Meantime the 
delinquents had been arrested and clapped 
into jail in Springfield, at the hands of Samuel 
Willson, constable. Presumably this was by 
higher authority than that of the town, which 
convened again June 28, and "voated the 
money Part of the Provance tax assessed" 
upon the imprisoned men "be Borrowed to 
Pay y e remainder" of the town's obligation. 
It was further "voated that In 5 Will m Boies 
be a Comeety to go to the men Living at 
Westfield River Branches that ware taken 
Prisoners by Samuel Willson Constable to 
Springfield for provance tax and to agree 
with them if they think proper or Carrey or 
Defend if prosecuted at the towns Coast." 
The amount of the aforesaid tax as borrowed 
is then given in twenty-five items, mostly 
of six shillings each, the largest sum being 
eight shillings. At a third meeting held 
August 24, eighteen shillings and five pence 

276 



WESTFIELD RIVER BRANCHES 

was granted to Samuel Boies "for a tending 
Court & seeing a Lawewar," and to William 
Boies ten shillings and fourteen pence for 
going to Northampton to secure counsel. 
The town appear to have lost their case, and 
gave a note upon interest for "one Pound 
Nine Shillings & four pence" borrowed of 
Samuel Boies to defray the charges in the 
affair. The itemized account is as follows: 

"Pay 1 * by In s Will m Knox to the men at 
Westfield River Branches for being taken 
Prisoners by Blandford Constable for province 
tax in behalf of the Town one Pound four 
Shillings & Eight pence 

"Pay d by John Knox in behalf of the Town 
one shilling six pence 

"Pay rf by John Boies in behalf of The Town 
two Shilling — 

"Pay d by James Willson in behalf of The 
Town twelve Shillings 

"Pay d by In 5 Will w Knox Seven Shillings in 
behalf of the Town 

the above S d Sums pay d to Defray the 
Charges for taking the men Prisoners for 
provance tax that Live at Westfield River 
Branches." 

277 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

If one may trust all that has been written 
of New England innkeepers they were tra- 
ditionally prone to occupy the office of con- 
stable. Blandford innkeepers fought shy of 
the position, apparently because they did 
not incline to the delicate jobs which fell to 
such a functionary. But in this racket over 
the province tax, whatever it was, men who 
either were, or were to be, dispensers of 
public entertainment, were prominently active 
in defence of their fellow citizens down on 
the banks of the river. Meantime, without 
the shadow of a doubt, all the taverns in 
town were furnished with abundant topics 
of discussion the whole summer long. 

The task of climbing the mountain from 
the Westfield river valley to Blandford hilltop 
has ever appealed to those who have had it 
to do as the ascending of the hill Difficulty. 
Even to this day, after the Commonwealth 
has spent several thousand dollars grading 
the highway from Russell to Blandford, 
people open their eyes in wonder that the 
automobile club should choose this eyrie in 
their overland runs between Springfield and 
Lenox. But, as to learning, so in respect of 

278 



WESTFIELD RIVER BRANCHES 

the Berkshires, there is no royal road, unless 
indeed you take the railroad train, and that 
is confined to a narrow trail. The "terrible 
Glasgow or Westfield mountain" which Gen. 
Henry Knox so dreaded is even yet not easy 
to climb, and in the days of the pioneers it 
was far harder. The first route, the way of 
the settlers, was hardest of all, and note has 
already been taken of the Hampden and 
Berkshire turnpike of the nineteenth century. 
Before that was cut through, and while the 
choice seemed to be confined to the old Birch hill 
route or the way by the river and up the hill 
from Westfield river branches, another road 
was exploited in the year 1780, on petition 
"of a Number of Inhabitants of the Town of 
Blandford." The road asked for was to begin 
at "Wellers Mills in Westfield." Thence it 
was to proceed to "Whippernung," then 
crossing the river "by Lovewell Thomas's," 
wherever that may have been, it was to pass 
Titus Doolittle's. Just where Doolittle's was 
I cannot definitely say, but I strongly suspect 
it was not very far below the present village 
of Russell, on the river bank. From Doo- 
little's the road was asked for "the best way 

279 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

the ground will admit untill it joins the Road 
from Murraysfield to Blandford, as hereby," 
the petitioners add, "the Road from Pitts- 
field & Albany to Westfield would be shortened 
and Westfield mountain avoided." The pro- 
posed entrance of this highway into Bland- 
ford from the east was about five miles in a 
bee line to the north of the old route. 

The commissioners granted the prayer of 
the petitioners, and the road was made to 
pass the house of Philemon Doolittle, no 
mention being made of Titus Doolittle of the 
petition. Now Philemon Doolittle had at 
this time a farm in the five-hundred-acre lot 
numbered 40, through which Black's brook 
runs, and which is bounded on the west by 
the settlement lots, and on the east by the 
town of Russell. Two roads enter this lot 
from the town last named; one from the 
river road a little west of the village, passing 
along up the north bank of Black's brook, 
which runs through a mighty gorge. The 
road takes the steep incline on the top of a 
bank of sand as fine as that of the sea, then 
through meadow and upland to the Hunt- 
ington, or old Murrayfield, road, a mile or 

280 



WESTFIELD RIVER BRANCHES 

two above John Bolton's old farm. The 
other road passes through the same farm lot 
on the south side of the brook, farther distant 
from it, and has been known in later time as 
the Stony gutter road, the upper part of 
which has in recent years been abandoned, 
and connection made with the other road. 
It used to run directly up the hill to the 
Cochran place. On one of these two roads 
Philemon Doolittle lived. 

This section of the town traversed by these 
two roads, midway between the Cochran 
place and the present village of Russell, 
was formerly known as the "East part." 
It was a busy, thriving community, with 
good farms. The upland mowings are even 
now far-stretching and attractive. There 
were shops along the brook, and a tavern or 
two offered hospitality to the traveller and 
afforded a rendezvous in leisure hours for 
the men of the neighborhood. Roger Parks 
had his tavern in 1783 apparently on the 
southerly of these roads, near to the 
extreme boundary of the town. The house 
stands there empty, on a marvellously beauti- 
ful plateau, imposing monument of a for- 

281 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

gotten day. There are roomy and empty 
horse sheds in the rear. The old well- sweep 
and "moss-covered bucket" no longer inspire 
in boyish souls a store of "fond recollection" 
for later years, but are useless and dry except 
to entice the sentimental passer to focus his 
camera upon them or weave in his imagina- 
tion a fabric of story which no historian has 
ever transcribed. Warham Parks was also 
out there in 1784 and '85; and not improbably 
began his career as a landlord in this Parks 
homestead. 

The records tell not a tithe of what the 
curious seeker would like to know about 
this ancient community, and I have not 
discovered a soul that can tell me much of 
anything about it. But the registry of deeds 
reveals a surprising activity in this location 
after the county road just described was 
opened. Here were Parkses and Knoxes 
and Cooks and Days and Phelpses. Here 
Randall Nye came to settle. Here Logan 
Crosby rose from the low estate of "laborer" 
until he finally assumed the proud honor of 
"Gentleman," which latter title, almost of 
course, was won through some connection 

282 



WESTFIELD RIVER BRANCHES 

with the inn business. There were clothiers' 
shops in this community. William Knox had 
his "Cyder mill" and Sylvester and Son, who 
kept store in the centre of the town — the new 
village — got a foot-hold here through execu- 
tion processes, and not improbably opened a 
store, as has been recited in a previous 
chapter. William Knox had a retailer's 
license, and so, by inference, kept a store, in 
1785 and 1787, and I know not how much 
longer. Plin Day was a hatter, operating 
hereabout, and had a license in 1816. I 
have been unable from the deeds satisfac- 
torily to locate the buildings of these men, 
and diligent inquiry among elderly men 
having general knowledge of local traditions 
has resulted only in fixing the initial ignor- 
ance. So successfully has oblivion laid its 
heavy hand on so much of this old town and 
the adjoining sections in respect of the silent 
past, that there are by very far many more 
things which the historian wants to know 
and cannot find out than are discernible. 
Houses that are left indicate a one-time thrift 
and success, a breadth of activity and a 
grasp of resource where now is emptiness or 

283 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

the incoming of the very humble foreigner, 
or else of the non-resident land-holder who 
buys up large acres of sheep pasture, while 
the old homes for the most part stand deso- 
lated, the swift prey of wind, weather and 
decay. The other day a gentleman, losing 
his way and wandering off upon the road on 
which stands the tavern with the well-sweep 
near by, with curtainless windows and grass- 
grown paths, fetched up at last to report 
drearily that he had seen nothing but hills 
and abandoned school-houses, and could not 
discover where ever the children came from 
that might have filled those fountains of 
knowledge. There were three such institu- 
tions on the route of his solitary digression. 

The surveyed limit of the county road 
which pierced this interesting corner of the 
town was by one of these idle school- houses : 
"to Mr. Cochrans north Side of his House 
West 28 rods to a heap of Stones the Southerly 
side of the Highway by the School House be- 
tween Mr. John Crooks and Mr. Mitchells." 
"Ten miles three Quarters & Sixty six rods," 
the record runs, "from said (Weller's) Mills 
to the County Road in Blanford," meaning, 

284 



WESTFIELD RIVER BRANCHES 

as I suppose, from end to end, — Weller's in 
Westfield to Cochran's in Blandford. 



285 



Chapter Eleven 

The North End 



THE "North End" so called was an im- 
portant settlement of the town almost 
from the very first. The term is 
found in the town records as early as 1742, 
when Walter Steward was made road sur- 
veyor for that district. In 1760 the same 
gentleman was constable for that end of 
town. The northern part of the town street 
was not the part designated by the term 
under consideration. Above the home lot 
23 there was no thoroughfare, only a local 
road. In the lot just named another road 
veered off to the northwest, crossing diago- 
nally several of the settlement lots; then it 
ran between the farm lots 20 and 21, into 17 
and 2 and on to No. 4, or the town of Becket. 
It was early a town road, and became a 
county road by 1759, the farther extension 
of it being at Pontusuc, now Pittsfield. In 
1801 it was made part of the Eleventh 
Massachusetts Turnpike. This road, be- 



THE NORTH END 

tween the home lots and the point at which 
it passed beyond the limits of the town, was 
the North end. 

When the turnpike was laid out, damages 
were awarded as follows: to Levi Boies, 
$10; "Wido" Jane Wallace, $12; Joseph 
Badger, $4; William Brown, $5; Isaac Gibbs, 
$26; Oliver Coe, $6; Ephraim Howe, $4; 
Samuel Thrall, $10; James Beard, $9; Ben- 
jamin Taggard (Taggart) , $2. Mr. Gibbs, 
in his Historical Address several times quoted 
in these pages, is probably right in the asser- 
tion that this extension of the town street 
was the first road over which stages passed 
through Blandford from Springfield to Albany, 
inasmuch as the old Berkshire road, the post 
road so called, was abandoned as the popular 
route before the time of stages came in. 

The lecturer just now quoted says, "Per- 
haps it will not be boasting for us to state, 
that for six miles on this road, there are 
better farms than on any other road for the 
same distance upon the mountains." It is 
indeed a most charming country of rolling 
plateau and meadow, with commanding land- 
scapes stretching far onward, north and west 

287 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

to the hills of New Hampshire and Vermont, 
and to Greylock in the far northwest corner 
of the State looking down on the institution 
where so many of Blandford's early and dis- 
tinguished sons sat at the feet of the sages of 
Williams college. 

Fringing the westerly edge of this North 
end settlement, lay the Green woods which 
bulked so large in the itineraries of the stage 
lines and which, so far as this section of them 
is concerned, bear the name to this day. 

Ranged along this highway • was a con- 
siderable number of comfortable homes, some 
of which are now in the last stages of ruin, 
while others are still occupied. Signs of 
decrepitude multiply with the years. There 
was a bunch of taverns in this neighborhood. 
Except for the passing of the stages, the little 
community must have lived a life very much 
of its own, the Sunday meeting being pretty 
nearly the only occasion for mixing with the 
rest of the people. High and sightly, with 
wide-spreading fields and genial and inviting 
aspect, spite of now and then a crumbling 
ruin, the community, still with its school, 
appeals to the passer as substantial and 

288 




Harroun — Sinnet — Bruce Tavern and Bar-room 



THE NORTH END 

hospitable. Plenty of life was there, as 
tradition abundantly attests. 

Long years before the stages, came the 
taverns. When the stages at last arrived, 
a few years after the close of the Revolution, 
tavern business increased greatly. Then, 
within fifty miles of Albany there were as 
many taverns ranged along the turnpike to 
the Connecticut river, and these were not 
enough to accommodate the demand. Visitors 
to Blandford, learning something of the tavern 
story of the town, wonder at the tale. It 
is in fact but part of the larger story. A 
practical repetition of what went on in the 
street nearer the meeting-house might be 
told of the North end. Almost every house 
on the thoroughfare for a few miles was a 
tavern or looks as if it had been. Three of 
record still stand in consecutive order, while 
a fourth was a licensed house. 

The oldest building in this neighborhood 
is near the corner of the road leading to North 
Blandford, once known as the road to the 
mill. Decay has fast taken hold on it, a 
great tree has blown over upon it, and soon 
the old caravansary will be no more. This 

289 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

corner lot was first disposed of by the pro- 
prietor, John Foye, to James Lumus, in 
1759, who sold it to Ephraim Gibbs three 
years later. Ten years later still, Gibbs 
passed it on to Solomon Brown. There then 
stood on it "a Mansion House & a Barn." 
Without a reasonable doubt it is the same 
as that which now feebly survives. Deacon 
Ephraim Gibbs had a retailer's license in 
1768, and for the years following until and 
including 1773. Just where he went to live 
and continue his store after selling out to 
Brown it is hard to say, but apparently in 
this near vicinity, where Abner Gibbs lived 
after him. Ebenezer Crocker was the next 
owner, 1776 to 1780. Then David Harroun 
bought the property and ran the house as a 
tavern. Crocker also may quite likely have 
been employed there in the same business. 
The records were kept only interruptedly 
during the war, or, if kept, they were not all 
preserved. 

A significant note is spread upon the town 
records, under date of January 16, 1781, 
following the record of an earlier meeting 
devoted to choosing commissioned officers, 

290 



THE NORTH END 

raising the town's quota of soldiers and pro- 
viding supplies. At the later meeting just 
referred to, it was resolved to borrow "500 
silver dollars." It was also voted "Granted 
to David Herren (Harroun) Seventy two 
pounds for Transporting Two Hundred weight 
of powder from Boston for the Towns use." 
The landlord was quite a natural person to 
choose for such a purpose, as the nature of 
his business took him now and then to Boston, 
and he was always a man of affairs. When 
he returned from such a trip his bar-room 
would be neither empty nor silent. Two 
hundred pounds of powder in saddle bags was 
a delicate and responsible freight to carry 
at such a time, and stories of how the war 
was going, as well as incidents of the way, 
would make Harroun 's house for a time a 
popular place. Of course the lads were 
there to hear the fathers and in little groups 
by themselves to exchange ideas. Edward 
Field says,* "Nearly every one of the country 
taverns throughout the colonies bore some 
part in the revolutionary struggle. Its im- 
portance in the community made it the 

* In ThelColonial Tavern, p. 265. 

291 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

rendezvous for the townspeople; within it 
the patriots of '76 bade their last farewell to 
friends and neighbors before joining the 
army; around the board in the dining-room 
the town authorities made provisions for 
supplying the army in the field and the dis- 
tressed families of those who were fighting 
for liberty, or had fallen in freedom's cause. 
Here was received the first news of victory 
or defeat, and when peace threw her mantle 
over the contending forces, the walls of the 
old taverns rang with the shouts of victory, 
and the returning victors were feted and 
feasted in the same familiar room wherein 
they had subscribed to their oaths of enlist- 
ment, and where had been laid the plans for 
the building of a new nation." 

David Harroun sold his tavern to Margaret 
Sinnet in 1783. Margaret married Ebenezer 
Bruce and sold the place to James Sinnet in 
1787. The Sinnets had their homesteads at 
lot 23 of the first division, later owned by 
Samuel Knox, and the two properties became 
more or less interrelated on account of the 
intermarriage. The Sinnets and Bruces, in- 
cluding Jesse Bruce, apparently a son of 

292 




1 Taggart Tavern 
Capt. Abner Gibbs's House 



THE NORTH END 

Ebenezer, appear to have carried the license 
along well toward the end of the century or 
even past it, when the career of the place as 
a tavern ceased, and the North end at last 
added to its other distinctions that of having 
a resident physician in the person of Thomas 
Lucas, whose father bought this place. 

Nathaniel Taggart came to this part of 
town in 1759 from Second division street. 
He was a blacksmith. He sold his land in 
the second division in part to William Mitchel, 
who operated the mill, and, in 1765, to Rev. 
James Morton. It seemed always easy for a 
blacksmith in the olden days to become an 
innholder. There is record of Taggart 's license 
in 1769 and three years following, which is not 
saying he was not in the business much 
longer. The house is a little to the east of 
the one last described, was outwardly of the 
salt-box type, but the interior plan was 
essentially like that of its near neighbor to 
the west. It was not meanly appointed, if 
one may judge from the fact that its parlor 
walls were hand -frescoed. The house was 
built to stand for centuries, as all of those 
old house 3 were, and as all of them would 

293 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

stand, if they had received the care of con- 
tinuous occupancy and thrift. The cellar 
underneath this old hostelry is well worthy 
of a visit, filled as of yore with all good things 
of farm and kitchen. One sees there the 
blackened and hardened stringers of quartered 
oak, tough as steel, and its stairway made of 
steps also quartered from the log and spiked 
upon heavy rails slanted to receive them. 
The first proprietor of the house died in 1787, 
in the sixty-first year of his age. His tomb- 
stone in the old burying-ground near to the 
street is a pretentious sandstone slab, with 
face to the sky, resting on four substantial 
pillars. It bears this appealing epitaph: 
Some hearty friend 
Shall drop a Tear 
On our dry Bones 
and say 
these once were strong 
as mine appear 
And mine must 
be as they 

Of the numerous conventions assembled 
to take counsel concerning matters of war, 
finance or general welfare, Nathaniel Taggart 
had represented the town at one, as the 

294 



THE NORTH END 

following minute of August 16, 1779, bears 
witness: "Granted to Nathaniel Taggart 
fifteen Pound for going to Northampton to 
Convention two days and a half." There 
was more discussion for tavern frequenters. 

The name of Taggart, albeit no family in 
Blandford now bears it, is more than a 
reminiscence. A school is still in the old 
North end, whose numbers have within two 
or three years past rivalled those of any other 
school in town. One might find many a citi- 
zen unable to tell the number of the district, 
but few who would not know it as that of 
the Taggart- school. In due course of time 
the mortal remains of Widow Taggart had 
followed those of her husband to their final 
resting place in the old burying- ground, 
where the curious visitor reads, carved on an 
upright sandstone slab, this inscription: 
In memory of 
M rs Jane Taggart: 
wife of Mr Nathaniel Tag 
gart, who died August 24th 
1808, in the 80th year of her 
age. 
In her will she bequeathed to the 
3 d school district in Blandford 

295 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

1200 Dolls. 

To commemorate her Charity 

& worth, this Monument is 
erected by said Destrict. 
Visitors have been seen to stand before 
this stone erected by the grateful "Destrict" 
in wonder and awe when they considered 
what a paradise of joy the girls of the olden 
time must have had with so many dolls. In 
truth, if the gift had been dolls instead of 
dollars, perhaps some uncomfortable history 
might have been saved to the people most 
concerned; for while the fund has promoted 
education, time has been when it also bred 
envy and discord. A prolonged and ex- 
pensive litigation grew out of its administra- 
tion, and neighborhood quarrels were pro- 
moted. There was at one time a brick school 
standing within the district on ground claimed 
in part by one individual, and in part by 
another. In the night the building was 
sawn clean in two from top to bottom. After 
that the school-house took fire. This fund 
has now increased to something near $5,000. 
It is still administered — no longer in strife — 
for the benefit of the district by a board of 
trustees annually elected. 

296 



THE NORTH END 

The Gibbs families were somewhat numer- 
ous in the North end. Deacon Ephraim 
Gibbs, who was a large dealer in real estate, 
and built him a house on the north side of 
the road, a little west of the Sanderson hill 
road, otherwise called the Smith road, in 
lot 20, carried a retailer's license from 1768 to 
1773. The house, which is in good preserva- 
tion, bears the likeness of the traditional 
Blandford tavern — a substantial two-story 
house with gable roof, broad side to the 
street, and the bar-room door on the corner. 

The old Baird tavern, standing on the 
corner of the county road and the road to 
Chester, is a well preserved relic of the olden 
time whose history has been transmitted 
through an unbroken line of succession to 
the present generation. The house is very 
similar in plan to the Boies tavern, standing 
in the same relation to the street, and its 
corner bar-room door looking up the same 
toward the school-house. Samuel A. Barthol- 
omew, who went to his long home two or 
three winters ago at the ripe age of eighty, 
a worthy representative of the old country 
squire, passed on the precious traditions of 

297 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

the house from memories of his boyhood 
and from the remembered stories of those 
whose lives were spent in the midst of turn- 
pike and tavern days in this old inn. 

The farm was bought by James Baird in 
1768.* When the house was building a man 
labored two months with a yoke of oxen 
drawing and laying stone for the foundation 
and chimney. The timbers are still sound, 
and the house stands firmer probably than 
any house built in town for two generations. 
The original chimney and fire places are 
there still, some of the panels are left in the 
rooms, and the doors still swing on their 
home-made hinges. There was a wine cellar 
the only entrance to which was originally 
by a separate flight of stairs close to the bar. 

Mr. Bartholomew habitually spoke of the 
road which passes this house as a govern- 
ment road — "continental road" was the term 
he used. Our last acquaintance with it was 
as a turnpike. That learned and careful 

* Mr. Bartholomew gave the date as 1748, but the deed says 1768. Mr. 
Bartholomew also regarded the purchaser as the original settler of 
the name given, but he was probably the son, James, Jr. The 
license, according to the county record, was twenty years later still, 
viz., 178S. But as in the case of Colonel Sloper and Squire 
Jedediah Smith, not to mention others, so perhaps here also the 
actual business was entered upon much earlier than the accessible 
documents bear witness. 

298 



THE NORTH END 

historian, Dr. J. G. Holland, also wrote of a 
road from Fally's store "by the West Branch 
of the river through parts of Blandford and 
Chester, until it reached what was known 
as the Government road, by which it ran to 
Becket, connecting the road from Blandford 
to Pittsfield."* Such a road as this was 
exempt from all tolls, and obtained by so 
much an advantage over all others, f The 
idea was an important development of the 
history of travel and traffic in the period 
just preceding the railroads. My old friend 
of the one-time inn told me that the measured 
distance between his house and the post office 
was just four miles, while that between the 
village of North Blandford and the top of 
the hill overlooking the village by the house 
of the late William Bowers, at the westerly 
edge of the ten-acre lot, was three and a half 
miles. Notwithstanding this very slight 
difference in favor of the latter road, the 
turnpike of 1829 robbed the continental 
road of half its stage business, "the distance 
being shortened," said the old gentleman in 

* History of Western Massachusetts, Vol. I, p. 313. 

t I have not been able, as I would like, to get at the detailed facts about 
this national road. 

299 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

fine irony, "by lengthening the miles." Of 
the old tavern, standing at the corner of two 
important thoroughfares, it might have been 
written, as James Whitcomb Riley wrote* 
of one other: 

"The upper story looked squarely down 

Upon the main street, and the main highway 

From East to West, — historic in its day, 

Known as- the National Road — old-timers, all 

Who linger yet, will happily recall 

It as the scene and handiwork, as well 

As property, of 'Uncle Sam,' and tell 

Of its importance, 'long and long afore 

Railroads wuz ever dreamp' of!' — Furthermore, 

The reminiscent first inhabitants 

Will make that old road blossom with romance 

Of snowy caravans, in long parade 

Of covered vehicles, of every grade 

From ox-cart of most primitive design, 

To Conestoga wagons, with their fine 

Deep-chested six-horse teams, in heavy gear, 

High names and chiming bells — to childish ear 

And eye entrancing as the glittering train 

Of some sun-smitten pageant of old Spain. 

And, in like spirit, haply they will tell 

You of the roadside forests, and the yell 

Of 'wolfs' and 'painters,' in the long night-ride, 

And 'screeching catamounts' on every side, — 

* In his "The Child World." 

300 



THE NORTH END 

Of stagecoach days, highwaymen, and strange 

crimes, 
And yet unriddled mysteries of the times 
Called 'Good Old.' 'And why "Good Old?" 'once 

a rare 
Old chronicler was asked, who brushed the hair 
Out of his twinkling eyes and said, — 'Well John, 
They're "good old times" because they're dead 

and gone!' " 

Of " 'wolfs' and 'painters,' in the long 
night ride, 
And 'screeching catamounts' on every side" 
there are traditions yet lingering among the 
elders of the old stock, handed down from 
generation to generation. It was in these 
very Green woods fringing the North end 
that John Noble found himself one evening 
a good deal later than he liked to be out. He 
was meeting an appointment with a friend in 
Becket, and had been detained from starting 
at as early an hour as he had intended. It 
was universally considered unsafe to be out 
alone of an evening. Out there in the woods 
he heard the wolves and hurried on. He 
had crossed an intersecting road and had 
passed beyond it a little way, when, looking 
back, he saw the whole pack crossing where 

301 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

he had crossed a few minutes before, but at 
right angles to his path, the hungry and 
ravening brutes being too stupid and raging 
to take accurately the scent or look to one 
side. John Noble tarried not by the way 
and reached his destination to the relief of 
his friend as well as of himself. This same 
John Noble was on a marketing trip, so the 
story goes, when he was less fortunate. 
Having on a load of hams, he was compelled 
to dole them out one by one to a pack of 
wolves which this time found him out. He 
reached a place of safety just as he had de- 
livered the last ham. It was not very far 
away from the North end, in the quarter 
once called New state, where Warren Parks 
had an interview with a 'catamount.' This 
was early in the day, and the beast was in a 
challenging mood. Parks had no weapon, 
but he was a powerful man. When it came 
to a question between 'catamount' and Parks, 
that individual intended that the fight should 
not be altogether one-sided. The cat stripped 
all the clothes off him, and he was obliged 
to hang round the bushes until nightfall, 
when he could get home in his state of nature 

302 



THE NORTH END 

without a shock to his feelings and those of 
his neighbors. But the cat was no more. 

Of the personality of the man who was 
landlord of the Beard house for so many years, 
little is known. It is almost too bad to take 
that little from the quaint and melancholy 
chapters of church discipline. Such pro- 
ceeding seems to smack of indelicacy or ir- 
reverence, as though Beard were a sinner 
above all others, or as though nothing should 
be too sacred, or too private to be dragged 
out into the lime-light of a curious modern 
age. But perhaps it may be considered 
that in respect of self-indulgence on the 
Lord's day, a solitary sinner of a century and 
a quarter ago has a good deal of company 
in the time that now is, while as for the rest, 
it is not every offender who has either con- 
science or courage to make confession. Be- 
sides, such events must be told if one would 
really learn the spirit and manner of the time. 
It was made public then: why not now let it 
speak for a generation that is gone indeed, 
but which had its moulding power over the 
century which followed? So have I already 
spoken of others "of like passions as we are." 

303 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

In the flush of spring, when the shad were 
running, James Beard along with other fellow 
mortals went fishing. No picture of the 
ancient times could ever be complete without 
the story of the shad season. Salmon was 
the fish of the aristocracy, who considered 
shad to be fit only for the vulgar. After 1750 
the price of this latter fish dropped to a penny 
each. During and following the Revolution, 
the price rose to two or three coppers or 
more for each fish. Such prices brought 
them within the means of the poorest. So 
the plebeians ate shad, while the patricians 
feasted on salmon. Shad figure in the records 
of sales of Samuel Sloper, but no salmon, 
for it is hardly likely they found their way to 
the humble homes of Blandford. The shad 
season attracted crowds to the river, some 
coming as far as from the Berkshire towns, 
equipped with bags in which to bring home 
the catch. It was a gala time, and farmers' 
turnouts were to be seen on every hilltop and 
in every glade going and returning during 
the carnival season. And since fish do not 
keep as long in May or June as in December, 
and inasmuch as the shad chose the warmer 

304 



THE NORTH END 

months of spring to spawn, our friend Beard 
came to his downfall in the days of spring. 

It was Sunday, and Baird's catch of shad 
was far from the tavern at the North end. 
By Sunday night they were at "Sacket's," 
at the foot of the mountain, in Westfield. 
It has since been known as Washington's 
tavern, and is just where the original company 
of Blandford settlers stopped to rest over 
night before their memorable mountain climb. 
The next day, doubtless, the fish were on the 
table tempting the appetites of James Beard's 
family and guests. By the time they had 
reached Blandford heights the fish were 
aristocratic enough for any. 

James Beard hardened his heart against 
minister and elders who labored with him 
earnestly and long. It was more than a 
year before he came to a better mind; but 
come at last he did, and the Sunday before 
Christmas, 1789, his public confession was 
read "before the Church and congregation," 
the Rev. Joseph Badger presiding in the 
pulpit: "I James Beard under a sense of the 
sinfulness of violating the commands of God 
& of my own conduct in that particular, do 

305 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

now humbly acknowledge that a year ago 
some time last spring I did exceeding sin- 
fully in performing my own business on the 
Lords day in bringing a load of shad fish from 
Connecticut river to sackets at the foot of 
the mountain." Then follows a further and 
explicit portrayal of his sin in violation "both 
of divine & human laws," and of his offence 
to his "christian brethren and reproach to 
the christian name," concluding with the 
expressed wish that henceforth he might be 
kept from "wandering out of the path of 
duty, and be more faithful" in his "christian 
walk." Thus was Beard's tavern given a 
practical application of its moral tutelage 
under the church, and the whole community 
reminded of the reign of a higher law. 



306 



Chapter Twelve 

Tales of Stage- Coach and 
Wayside Inn 

THE Bartholomews came into possession 
of the Baird tavern in 1810, and began 
to occupy it, though no longer as a 
public house, in 1814. It was the home for 
nearly eighty years of Samuel A. Bartholomew, 
mentioned in the preceding chapter. He 
remembered the stages well, two passing the 
house in either direction each day. Each 
coach was driven by four horses, and the 
vehicles were packed full. The stages con- 
tinued to stop at the old stand to take ad- 
vantage of a never-failing well of pure, cold 
water. Perhaps they prized the water more 
as the taverns became fewer. In any event 
the horses doubtless appreciated nature's 
original gift. With a genial twinkle in his 
blue eyes this octogenarian used to tell with 
relish the stories of his boyhood; how he 
remembered, when a small child, being daily 
tossed up by the driver of the stage to the 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

high boot of the coach to ride as far as to the 
next house, the one-time inn of David Har- 
roun and Ebenezer Bruce, and there 
was lowered down again gently to the 
ground to run back home — "hundreds of 
times," he said. He recalled the later stages, 
when they were run by relays of ten miles at 
a lap. The driver would blow his horn at 
the distance of about half a mile from the 
stopping place, where the men at the stable, 
hearing it, would harness fresh horses and 
have them all ready to continue the journey 
without delay. Then they would go on 
again their mad pace of ten miles an hour. 
These were the "express" stages. When 
these things were done Blandford was not 
in a corner. 

"Jerod" Cables was the stable boy — a 
negro — and Duty Underwood sold the rum 
at the Baird house. These worthies used to 
tell Mr. Bartholomew about the old tavern 
days, and how, in the busy season of the 
year , the house often entertained from forty 
to fifty teams in a night. In reply to the 
young listener's doubt of the truth of such a 
yarn, old "Jerod" would give his peculiar 

308 




1 The Baird Tavern 
2 Bar-room — The Modern Living-Room 



STAGE-COACH AND WAYSIDE INN 

African laugh, and reply, "My boy, you don't 
know how we lived in them days. The barn 
was one hundred feet long, with an outside 
shed running the entire length of it, and stood 
where your garden is now. When teams 
began to stop for the night, we filled the barn 
with horses, then the shed. If others came, 
they had to hitch their horses out. We fed 
the horses hay; each teamster carried his 
own grain; the house furnished the men their 
food and rum; and when they wished to 
retire, they would bring in their buffalo 
robes, and camp on the floor — they would 
not have rested in a bed."* Incredulity at 
such a tale as this has not been confined to 
the boy listener. Scepticism of a similar 
sort has been provoked in other minds, not 
excepting the initiated in tavern service of a 
later generation. But the story bears the 
marks of authenticity. The railroad had 
not then come into being or imagination. A 
few years marked the passage from one world 
into another. Reference to the buffalo robes 
and the "busy season" easily places this rush 

* This story I have given almost exactly in the language of Mr. Bartholo- 
mew, who, though he had lost out of it the peculiar narrative flavor 
of the untutored African, had nevertheless retained the substance 
of the facts. 

309 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

of tavern patronage and rustic travel in the 
heart of winter, the traditional season of 
trade for the agriculturist. So high an 
authority on these matters as Mrs. Earle 
puts this condition of winter bustle at the 
taverns among the veritable commonplaces 
of New England life, and Blandford was no 
exception: "The two-horse pung, or the 
single-horse pod, shod with steel shoes an 
inch thick, was closely packed with the 
accumulated farm wealth — whole pigs, fir- 
kins of butter, casks of cheese (four cheeses 
in a cask,) bags of beans, peas or corn, skins 
of mink, fox and fisher-cat that the boys 
had trapped, birch brooms that the boys had 
made, yarn that their sisters had spun, and 
stockings and mittens that they had knitted, 
— in short, anything that a New England 
farm could produce that would sell to any 
profit in a New England town." As for the 
sleeping room, "a great fire was built in the 
fireplace of either front room — the bedroom 
and parlor— and round it in a semi-circle, 
feet to the fire and heads on their rolled-up 
buffalo robes, slept the tired travellers. . . . 
It was certainly a gay winter scene as sleigh 

310 



STAGE-COACH AND WAYSIDE INN 

after sleigh dashed into the tavern barn or 
shed, and the stiffened driver, after 'putting 
up' his steed, walked quickly to the bar-room, 
where sat the host behind his cage-like 
counter, where ranged the inspiring barrels 
of old Medford or Jamaica rum and hard 
cider, and 

'Where dozed a fire of beechen logs that bred 
Strange fancies in its embers golden-red, 
And nursed the loggerhead, whose hissing dip 
Timed by nice instinct, creamed the bowl of 
flip.' " 

The story of this writer of New England's 
by-gone customs is to all intents and pur- 
poses — except the one item of meals, wherein 
she makes the farmer carry his own, while 
the Baird tavern servants testified to their 
being served by the house — is the story of 
Blandford's farmers and Blandford's taverns 
a hundred and more years agone. The men 
did not always go in caravans, however, as 
the story of John Noble's encounter with 
wolves testifies, but the expediency of doing 
so is by this story well illustrated. 

When the traveler had got himself com- 
fortably housed in this tavern of James Baird, 

311 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

no doubt he told stories and cracked jokes 
and drank flip and rum. He had other 
questionable employments besides the last 
named. The bar was in one corner of the 
southeast room, the floor of which was laid 
in hard maple, one and a quarter inches thick. 
The premises themselves have told the story, 
for the floor of this tap-room had to be re-laid 
by one of the elder Bartholomews shortly after 
the purchase, so worn had it become, es- 
pecially at the corners which were scooped 
out like saucers by the guests pitching coins. 
It was worn, in fact, to holes, for under- 
neath, when the work of repair was done, 
several silver coins of various denominations 
were picked up, including a Spanish milled 
dollar, of date 1806, bearing the legend, 
"CAROLUS III. DEI GRATII REX HIS- 
PANIA ET IND." 

The general trading centre for the people 
was Hartford, though something also was 
done in Westfield, possibly in Springfield. 
Connecticut, however, always appealed to 
the early resident of Blandford, and Hartford 
was the great trading mart. In his inimita- 
ble way Dr. Daniel Butler thus tells of a visit 

312 



STAGE-COACH AND WAYSIDE INN 

from his Beech hill home to that city. This 
was not, indeed, for the sole purpose of trad- 
ing, nor was it in winter. But it has this 
unique advantage, that it is a description of 
the trip with the memory of childhood's 
enthusiasm and imagination. 

"The journey we occasionally made from 
Blandford in my childhood will never be 
forgotten. Old Jack was brought from the 
pasture the day before, and trimmed, curried 
and fed — the wagon greased and all due 
preparation made for the journey. From 
the moment of leaving till we returned, I 
was in a world of romance — the first object 
that attracted my attention was Squire 
Stowe's two-storied white house — four miles 
from home. White houses were rare in those 
days, and two stories seldom indulged in on 
the Hill. East Granville dazzled my sight 
with its two stores, church, hotel, and es- 
pecially its Doves and Martins, giving evi- 
dence that we had reached a higher civiliza- 
tion. From that point the extreme and 
beautiful view to the east afforded a fore- 
taste of the wonders to be witnessed that 
day. Every man we met to my imagination 

313 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

belonged to an elevated order of beings. 
The meadows and streams were surpassingly 
beautiful — the last populous with trout. At 
Case's tavern* fourteen miles from home we 
halted to feed and rest the horse. Here was 
a peacock, the first we had ever seen, and 
Guinea fowls discoursed wonderful music in 
an orchard bending with fruit fairer than 
that of the Hesperides. Salmon Brook and 
the Farmington river and the meadows 
through which they flowed added to the 
wonders of the day. At Griswold's Mills, 
now Tariff ville, we crossed the Farmington 
and passed over a spur of Talcott mountain, 
and the really beautiful prospect afforded us 
seemed to have its parallel only on that 
mountain from whence the great Lawgiver 
looked upon Canaan. Descending from this 
height we halted again at Benton's tavern, f 
refreshing Jack with the liberal quantity of 
two quarts of oats, and ourselves with a glass 
of sling — this was before the days of temper- 
ance. Thence for the space of five miles we 
rode over wide sand plains without fences, 
where fields of corn and rye pressed closely 

* In North Granby. 

t At Spoonville, called now North Bloomfield. 

314 



STAGE-COACH AND WAYSIDE INN 

upon our path and stretched out like a sea 
on every side. Soon after leaving the plain 
the indications of our approach to the city* 
began to increase. White palings began to 
appear about the house and wagons were met 
oftener. Three miles out of the city the 
spires of three out of the four churches — 
(the Episcopal, North and South Congrega- 
tional) came into view, and the rest of the 
ride was through a fairy land. We went 
quite through the town and over the little 
bridge out to Uncle Wells where a hospitable 
welcome always awaited us. Here every- 
thing was new and wonderful, — -the barn had 
a fragrance not imparted by mountain hay, 
and everything in and around the house had 
a glory all its own." This was in the main 
the same road as that traversed by the 
caravans of traders who stopped over night 
at Beard's, forty double teams in a night, 
for these all, so far as the city of Hartford 
may have been their destination, had to go 
by way of Beech hill, past Daniel Butler's 
house, after having traversed North meadow 
and over what was then known as the Step 

♦At West Hartford. 

315 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

hill road and past the little tavern once 
carried on by John Lloyd. 

It is too bad that no note or tradition of 
any kind has survived the lapse of years to 
tell of the shows and vaudevilles which in- 
variably chose the tavern for their operation. 
Such a house as Baird's must have seen many 
an exhibition of bear-dancing, minstrel or 
playwright. The memory of these has gone 
and left not a rack behind. But the vision 
of boys and girls, little and big, enjoying life 
with an added intensity for a brief moment, 
as these shows came and quickly vanished, 
requires the inspiration of no very rare fancy. 

The busy days are gone from the old 
caravansary where Jerod Cables and Duty 
Underwood did long service. Its tall lilacs, 
twisted and toughened by the storms of 
nearly a century, and high as the eaves of 
the house, gave it — until its new coat of 
paint was just laid on — a somnolent and 
reverent aspect of retrospection. The old 
chimney, solid and commodious, has looked 
down on the children passing to and fro these 
many years between their homes and school, 
as if to smile a silent and unappreciated 

316 



STAGE-COACH AND WAYSIDE INN 

blessing for the newer times when life is so 
changed in its outward aspect yet so like in 
its abiding essentials. No smoke now issues 
forth of a winter night to speak of cheer and 
temptation within, for it has become trans- 
formed into a bright and inviting summer 
home for dwellers in the town. The old 
volume is closed ; a new one has begun. 

In 1859, some years after the pristine glory 
of the stage-coach had departed, but when 
many a man who had made it the institution 
it had been was still in the flesh, a convention 
was held in Springfield which the Springfield 
Republican in its report called "The Gathering 
of Old Whips." Watson E. Boise of Bland- 
ford was there, having with him a contract 
from Postmaster-General Granger, bearing 
date of 1806, a document which was issued 
to his father, Enos Boise, who for twenty- 
two years held the contract for carrying the 
mails between Hartford and Stockbridge. 

"Enos Boise, grandfather of Enos Watson 
Boise, the present town clerk of Blandford, 
began in the staging business about 1800, 
and but 12 years were lacking to round out 
a century when his grandson finished out the 

317 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

pending contracts which remained when 
Watson E. Boise, son of the elder Enos, died 
in 1892, after following stage-coaching almost 
70 years. Old Enos Boise began to drive 
coach when he was about 24. Six years 
later, in 1806, Mr. Boise made his first con- 
tract with the government to carry mails. 
This first contract was for the old Hartford 
route, which went from Stockbridge, through 
Blandford to Granville, Granby, Simsbury 
and Hartford. Watson Boise, son of Enos, 
was born in 1808 and was literally brought 
up in the business. He drove stage as soon 
as he was old enough, and when he was 21 
his father gave him the old Hartford route, 
and he continued it until it was given up. 

"The high water mark in the coaching 
days came under Watson Boise, and at one 
time he was interested in some 40 routes in 
Western Massachusetts, out of New Haven 
and Hartford and some in western Connecti- 
cut. He was one of the best known men 
following the picturesque calling and was 
familiar with most of the men at 'the gather- 
ing of old whips.' He had been in partner- 
ship with many men in the various lines in 

318 



STAGE-COACH AND WAYSIDE INN 

which he was interested. Chester W. Chapin 
was one of his partners, and he had also been 
in business with Lewis Chapman. A party 
to so many contracts with the government 
went occasionally to Washington. When 
there on one of these trips, somewhere about 
1870, one of the assistant postmasters-gen- 
eral told him that he had been in the govern- 
ment mail service a longer continuous period 
than any other man living. For 20 years 
longer he remained in the service, so one 
might readily believe that at the time of his 
death his record was even more distinctive, 
although whether or not it has ever been 
equaled cannot now be said."* 

That Watson Boise knew something of 
"high water mark," is confirmed by a story 
of him at the time of a great flood. He had 
reached Little river on his return trip from 
Hartford, where he was told by the neighbors 
that the bridge was gone, and he could 
not get across. He had two powerful horses, 
and he himself was no tenderfoot. A detour 
meant going round by North Blandford, 
eight or ten miles farther, and this was en- 

* Quoted from an article in the Springfield Republican of March 8, 1908. 

319 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

tirely unattractive to him. He had the mail 
and two lady passengers. He offered the 
ladies the choice of being left behind with 
some of the neighbors, or, if they had the 
courage, to ford the river with him. In vain 
the gathered bystanders tried to dissuade him 
from the perilous task. They told him it 
could not be done. He thought it could. 
The two ladies were loath to be left behind 
also, so they all essayed to cross. Deeper 
and deeper into the raging waters he went, 
until the horses were covered except their 
heads, and the driver was holding the lines 
aloft, while the ladies were appealing to him 
to return, for they did not want to drown 
"with all those people looking on," as though 
a greater seclusion might have reconciled 
them to a fate which the mail carrier for his 
part had no idea of meeting just then whether 
alone or in company. He got himself and his 
precious freight safely across. How the mail 
fared the story does not relate, but Mr. Boise 
could be trusted with the service under any 
conditions. 

A contract between the Government and 
Enos Boise in 1820 marks out this route and 

320 



*\>>K 



^**L 




■■•• *,%>£ 



■<& 



"County Road from James Beard's to Barrington Road 
Toward Hartford 



STAGE-COACH AND WAYSIDE INN 

itinerary : ' ' from Hartford Ct by Wintonbury 
Simsbury Granby Granville Middle Gran- 
ville Blandford Fallys X Roads Chester and 
Middle field to Hinsdale once a week and 
back at the rate of sixty eight dollars & 
seventy five cents for every quarter of a year." 
"Leave Hartford every Tuesday at 2 PM 
Arrive at Granville Thursday by 1 PM & 
Arrive at Hinsdale on Thursday by 6 PM 
Leave Hinsdale every Friday at 6 AM and 
Arrive at Hartford on Tuesday by 9 AM" 
A later contract with Watson E. Boise, of 
date 1832, is more detailed and throws some 
light on the manner of carrying the mails and 
the comparative importance of the several 
posts along the route. This contract in- 
cludes "newspaper privilege," a little note of 
the widening reading habits of the people. 
The contract reads, in part : 

"1. To carry the mail of the United States, 
from (No. 359) Hartford Ct. by Wintonbury 
Tariff ville, Granby, North Granby, and East 
Granville Ms. Blandford, Fally's 4 Roads, 
Chester, Middlefield & Washington To Hins- 
dale & back once a week in stages between 
Hartford and Blandford & in a sulky between 
Blandford & Hinsdale, No. 437 From Hart- 
ford Ct. by Wintonbury, Simsbury, West 

321 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

Granby, & Hartford, to Middle Granville Ms. 
& back twice a week in stages at the rate of 
One hundred and forty dollars for every 
quarter of a year." This was the itinerary: 

"No. 359. 
"Leave Hartford every Wednesday- 
Arrive at Blandford Same day 
Leave Blandford every Thursday 

Arrive at Hinsdale Same day 
Leave Hinsdale every Friday 

Arrive at Blandford Same day 
Leave Blandford every Tuesday 

Arrive at Hartford Same day 
No. 437 
Leave Hartford Tuesday & Saturday 

Arrive at Middle Granville Same days 
Leave Middle Granville every Monday & 
Friday 

Arrive at Hartford Same days 

The earlier contract, and, with the excep- 
tion of some verbal changes, the later one 
also, contained this item: "9. That when 
the said mail goes by a stage wagon, it shall 
invariably be carried within the body of a 
comfortable stage, or in a secure and dry 
boot under the driver's feet, suitable for the 
accommodation of at least seven travellers, 
under a penalty of twenty dollars for each 

322 



at 


6 A. 


M. 


by 


4 P. 


M. 


at 


6 A. 


M. 


by 


6 P. 


M. 


at 


6 A. 


M. 


by 


5 P. 


M. 


at 


6 A. 


M. 


by 


4 P. 


M. 


at 


6 A. 


M. 


at 


2 P. 


M. 


at 


10 A. 


M. 


by 


5 P. 


M. 



STAGECOACH AND WAYSIDE INN 

offence; and when it is carried on horseback, 
or vehicle, other than a stage, it shall be 
covered securely, with an oilcloth or bear- 
skin, against rain or snow, under a penalty 
of twenty dollars for each time the mail is 
wet, without such covering; and when it 
stops at night, it shall be put in a secure place, 
and there be locked up, at the contractor's 
risque." 

The name and something of the history 
of Levi Pease have already entered as a 
component part of the chapter on the Corner 
tavern. In connection with our present story 
the following narrative is of interest:* "The 
first stage and mail route in New England 
and probably the first in the country began 
operation 100 years ago yesterday. Capt. 
Levi Pease of Somers, Ct., and Reuben 
Sikes of Sufneld, both blacksmiths, had pre- 
viously run a passenger conveyance between 
Somers and Hartford, a distance of 20 miles, 
and from this small beginning conceived a 
scheme of establishing a regular passenger 
and post route between Hartford and Boston. 
Sikes was some years younger than Pease 

* Taken from the Springfield Republican as already quoted, itself a clipping 
from an earlier number bearing date of October 21, 1883. 

323 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

and his father stoutly opposed the enter- 
prise, telling his son that Pease was enticing 
him into a ruinous scheme that would soon 
lodge them both in jail as poor debtors. But 
young Sikes was not to be frightened, nor did 
the failure of an effort to start a similar line 
the year before between Worcester and Bos- 
ton deter him from joining forces with the 
dauntless captain. Two convenient wagons 
were secured, and on October 20, 1783, at 
6 o'clock in the morning they left Boston 
and Hartford respectively. Capt. Pease drove 
the western-bound stage starting from 'the 
Sign of the Lamb,' stopped over night at 
Martin's in Northboro, passing through 
Worcester the next day and resting at Rice's 
in Brookfield. His route the third day took 
him through Palmer, and perhaps Wil- 
braham, to his home in Somers, and on the 
fourth day Hartford was reached. This route 
was followed through the winter and early 
spring, but in May, 1784, Springfield was made 
a station and the river was crossed either 
here or at Enfield. . . . The fare at this 
time was 'four pence per mile,' or about $10 



324 




Watson E. Boise 
(Courtesy of Springfield Republican) 



STAGE-COACH AND WAYSIDE INN 

for the trip from Boston to Hartford."* 
At last came the railroad. No landlord, 
stage driver or sage had vision of the fateful 
meaning of steam travel for the ancient town 
of the hills, or for society, whether of city or 
country. "Come, boys, the railroad is going 
through: let's go to work and raise potatoes." 
So said a father of dissipated habits and 
impoverished home to his strapping sons. 
He thereupon promised them that if they 
would work with him he would stop drink- 
ing, and they would soon be rich. He was 
as good as his word, and th^y cleared $1,000 
a year from the potatoes sold to the workmen 
along the line of the road. 

The town was already at the parting of the 
ways when, in the early century, "New 
Connecticut" loomed big on New England's 
horizon, and New York, Pennsylvania and 
the Northwest Territory were claiming the 
sons and daughters of the New England hills 
by twos and threes, by families and colonies, 
when Rev. Joseph Badger went out to pioneer 
a path for the Western civilization, taking 

* Further details of the enterprising career of Capt. Levi Pease, including 
mention of his residence in Blandford "for six years before the war," 
are given in the article quoted. Reference may also be had to the 
book already referred to in the chapter on the Corner Tavern, q. v. 

325 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

his family and effects in a big canvas- cove red 
wagon, when the Scioto company went and 
numberless others from Blandford and all 
New England. But when at last the railroad 
came, then began to come the grassing over 
of the ways and the settling down to a new 
regime. Not all at once, to be sure, but 
with the resistless movement of the decades. 
It spelled "West" to many a lad and lass and 
many a hitherto established family whom 
the prairie schooner had failed to attract. 
It also spelled "City" whether West or East, 
until now the hilltop is once more, for a brief 
annual season at least, the refuge of throngs 
wearied and distraught by the feverish stress 
of urban life. 

The people of Blandford generally believed 
in the railroad, as a favorable resolution 
passed in town meeting bears witness. But 
the favoring sentiment was not unanimous. 
Down at Chester Factories the road was 
building, and the enterpise proceeded not 
without the onlooking of many curious visit- 
ors, among them the lad of the old Beard 
tavern, who used to have his daily ride on 
the stage. When he returned home again, 

326 



STAGE-COACH AND WAYSIDE INN 

he found an intelligent old gentleman at his 
father's house, who listened attentively to 
the young man's description of what he had 
seen, to all of which the old gentleman re- 
plied, "Well, my boy, the building of that 
road is a visionary idea; if they ever get it 
done, it will make a beautiful thoroughfare 
from Boston to Albany, but you will never see 
the day when vehicles will be drawn by any 
other power than horses or cattle." To-day 
the sub-marine and the flying machine are 
less of a novelty than the railroad was to our 
forbears. 

When at last the road invited the patronage 
of the countryside, this same young man of 
the old tavern was among the first to try its 
merits. This is his story: "The cars were 
like the old stage-coach, with doors on both 
sides, and three seats in each car, each seat 
accommodating three persons. The con- 
ductor did not enter the car to collect tickets, 
but came on a rod of iron that ran the length 
of the car below the door; holding on to 
another rod above, he let down the window 
in the door to take up the tickets. The 
wheels of the cars ran on timbers laid length- 

327 



TAVERNS AND TURNPIKES 

wise of the railroad. On these were spiked 
bars of iron. Twice the train was stopped, 
and on looking out of the car the conductor 
and trainmen were to be seen ahead of the 
train, spiking down what they called snake- 
heads. The train ran about fifteen miles an 
hour." 

The old has been rung out; the new has 
been rung in. There is progress not alone 
in railroading and in the arts of entertainment 
and business. These have been and are but 
the vehicles of humors and passions, of loves 
and hates, of ideals and struggles, of faiths or 
wrecks of faith of the serge of human life with 
its inner realities. Something not to be run 
in material moulds has come forth. The 
story of the old is not all entertainment, not 
all memory, not all dead past. The page is 
turned over, if by a real man, not without 
meditation and soberness. 

"Long ago at the end of its route, 
The stage pulled up and the folks stepped out. 
They have all passed under the tavern door, 
The youth and his bride and the gray three- 
score. 
Their eyes were weary with the dust and gleam; 

328 



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Little River 



STAGE-COACH AND WAYSIDE INN 

The day had gone like an empty dream. 
Soft may they slumber, and trouble no more 
For their eager journey, its jolt and roar, 
On the old road over the mountain."* 

* Quoted by Edward Field, in The Colonial Tavern. 



329 



Appendix I 

LIST OF LICENSEES 

THE following list is copied from the record of 
the Court of General Sessions of old Hampshire 
County, Northampton, Mass.: 

In all the earlier years of this record the names of 
licensees are given without order or tabulation in the 
midst of other material. It is not easy picking them 
out, and absolute perfectness is not claimed tor this 
copy. Other peculiarities connected with the listing 
of those licensed are commented on in the text. 

Inn. — Innholder. 
Ret. — Retailer. 

An innholder 's license is to be understood where no 
special indication is given. 

1. Joseph Pixley, Jr., summer or fall of 1733. 
"Joseph Pixley, Jun r Living on M r Ch r Jacob 
Lawton Land between Westfield and Sheffield to 
be an Inholder Taverner & Common Victualer 
at s d Place is by this Court admitted and ap- 
proved as a Suitable Person agreeable to the order 
of the Gen' Court Respecting the Same — " He 
came from "Upper Houseatunnick," or Great 
Barrington. 

2. Robert Huston of Glascow. Ausgust, 1736, 1739, 
1740. 

Robert Hewson of Glascow. August, 1737. 
Robert Huston of Glasko. August, 1738. 

3. John Huston of Blandford. August, 1740. 
"License is Granted to John Huston of Blandford 



To be an Inholder Taverner & 'Common Victualler 
in s d Town for the Year Ensuing for Selling Strong 
Drink by Retail & Recognized as the Law Directs 
for keeping Good Rule and Order and Duly 
paying the Excise: As p r Recognizance on 
file." 1741. 

4. Armour Hamilton — "exercising his License only 
in the House where he now dwells." 1 742-1 749 

5. Agnes Hamilton. 1749-1751. Widow of Armour. 

6. Matthew Barber — "in his house." 1742. 

7. William Huston. 1752-1755 — "in his house." 
| 8. Hewet Root. 1756-1758 — "in his house." 

9. John Nox. 1757 — "in his house." 

John Knox. 1758-1771. Ret., 1772, 1773. 

10. Nathanael Pease — "in y e House Where he now 
dwells." 1759-1769. At least a part of the 
time he was also retailer and common victualer. 

11. Samuel Stewart — "in y e House Where he now 
dwells." 

12. Matthew Blair. Ret., 1760-1762— "out of his 
dwelling house there to be spent out of Doors." 

13. Joseph Clark — "in his house there." 1761, 1762. 

14. William Carnahan. Ret., 1763, 1765-1767. 

15. Ephraim Gibbs. Ret., 1768-1773. 

16. Nathaniel Taggart. 1769-1773. 

17. Levi Pease. 1771-1773. 

18. Samuel Sloper. Ret., 1778, 1781; Inn., 1784; 
Ret., 1787. 

19. D" William Boies. 1779, 1780; William Boyce, 
1781. 

William Boies. Ret., 1783. 

20. Warham Parks. Ret. 1779, 1780, 1783. War- 
ham Parks, Esq., 1781. 



21. Justus Ashmun. 1778, 1781-1784-1797. He 
probably had a continuous license. 

22. Tim Hatch. 1781-1784; Ret., 1788, 1790; Inn., 
1793-1800. cf. No. 23. 

23. David Herren, 1781; Timothy Hatch and David 
Herren, 1782; 1783 (Herren alone) . 

24. Reuben Boyes. 1781,1784. 

25. James Moore. 1782. 

26. Jonas Henry. 1782-1785. 

27. Samuel Boies. Ret., 1782; Inn., 1783-1785. 

28. Samuel Boies, or Samuel Boies 2nd, the two 
names being apparently used indiscriminately, 
1787, 1788; 1790, 1791; 1794-1809; 1813-1815. 
Probably a continuous license. 

29. Roger Parks. Ret., 1783— "to be a Retailer of 
Spirituous Liquors out of his House there to be 
spent out of Doors only." 

30. Isaac Blair. Ret., 1783-1785. 

31. Robert Montgomery. Ret., 1783-1785. 

32. Elisha Buck Sheldon. 1783. 

33. James Baird Jun r . 1784. 

34. James Baird. 1788-1801. Ret., 1800, 1801. 

35. Robert Blair Jm/. 1784, 1785, 1790-1793. 

36. Robert Blair. 1787. Robert Blair by Sam" 
Boies 2 d 1788. 

37. John Watson. Ret., 1784, 1785. 

38. James Wallis. Ret., 1784. 

39. William Knox. Ret., 1784, 1785, 1787. 

40. Sam" Hopesby. Ret., 1785. 

41. John Gibbs. Ret., 1785, 1788. 

42. Rufus Blair. Ret., 1785. Inn., 1791-1794. 

43. William Thompson by Rufus Blair. Ret., 1785. 

44. Ebenezer Bruce. 1788, 1790, 1791, 1793. 



45. William Hannon. Ret., 1788. 

46. James Sinnet. Ret., 1788. 

47. John & Russel Atwater. Ret., 1788. 

48. Russel Atwater. Ret., 1790-1794, 1798. 

49. Abner Pease. 1793-1799. 

50. William Stewart. Ret., 1793. 

51. Jesse Bruce. 1794. 

52. Sam' Porter, bbD. 1795-1797. 

53. Russel Watkins. 1796. 

54. Gad Stebbins. 1797. 

55. Noah Shepard, bb. Ret., 1797. 

56. John S. Douglass. 1798. 

57. Titus Ashmun. 1798. 

58. Eliphalet Lamb. 1799. 

59. Solomon Noble. 1800, 1801, 1803-1807, 1809. 

60. Henry Wales. Ret., 1800. 

61. Reuben Ashmun. 1801-1804. Ret., 1802. 

62. I. W. Knowlton. Ret., 1802. 

63. Aaron Fish. 1802. 

64. Robert Waterman. Ret., 1803-1806. 

65. James Hazard. Ret., 1804, 1805. 

66. Paul and Barnabas Whitney. Ret., 1804. 

67. Paul Whitney. Ret., 1805. 

68. Moses A. Bunnell. Ret., 1804, 1805. 

69. Keziah Ashmun. 1805. Widow of Justus. 

70. Benjamin Scott. 1806, 1807, 1809. 

71. Joseph Bull. Ret., 1806-1808. 

72. Job Almy. Ret., 1807-1809, 1811; Inn., 1812- 
1826. 

73. John Lloyd. 1808-1811. 

74. Isaac Harding. 1810. 

75. Margaret Scott. 1810. Widow of Benjamin 
Scott. 



76. Eli Hall. Ret., 1810, 1811. Physician. 

77. Amos M Collins. Ret., 1810-1817. 

78. Sam / Blair. Ret., 1810. 

79. Joseph Eells. Ret., 1810, 1811. 

80. Eleazer Slocumb. 1811. 

81. Jedediah Smith. Ret., 1811. 

82. Oren Sage. Ret., 1811-1833, except 1825 and 
1828. 

1833, Retailer of wines — no duty. 

83. Luke Hall. 1812. 

84. Jabez Goodell. 1813. 

85. Asa Smith. 1814, 1815. 

86. Plin Day. 1816. 

87. Enos Alvord. 1817. 

88. Isaac Lloyd. 1818. 

89. Fordyce Sylvester. Ret., 1818. 

90. George Bradley. 1820-1822. 

91. Lyman Gibbs. Ret., 1821-1824, 1826-1829,1833. 

92. Luther Laflin. Ret. 1822-1824; 1828, 1829, 
1831-1833; Inn., 1826-1829; 1832— "at his now 
dwelling house," 1833 — "in his Store situated 
near his Tavern." 

93. Sergius W. Lloyd. 1823. 

94. Justin Loomis. 1830, 1831. 

95. Thomas Bradley. 1832. 

96. Linus B. Barnes. 1832, Retailer of wine at the 
Store of Laflin and Barnes. 



Appendix II 



LOCAL DESIGNATIONS, NOT OCCURRING 
IN THE TEXT, OF CERTAIN MAIN THOR- 
OUGHFARES OF THE TOWN, WITH AN 
ADDITIONAL NOTE ON THE TURNPIKES. 

These designations are found in the lay-outs of 
county roads, on record in the county archives at 
Northampton or Springfield, or in local deeds. The 
date appended indicates the date of the county 
lay-out, or of the deed, as the case may be. 



Falls road to West Granville: 

Road from Blanford meeting House to Granville 
middle Society. 



Direct road from Bland ford village to East Otis: 

High Way from Blanford Street to ye Green woods 
Road. 



Present — not the ancient — Gore road: 

County road, 1770. 

County road to Greenwoods road at Northwest 
corner of Walnut hill, 1773. Highway from Blan- 
ford Street to ye Greenwoods Road. 1773. 

The county road leading from the Street west- 
ward, 1787. 

Gore road, 1820. 



North Street, and road to Becket: 

County road to Becket. 

(Northerly end of Street) Road from Isaac Gibbs 
to Ephraim Gibbs commonly called Pittsfield road 
1791. 



Road from Taggart district through North Blandford 
to Otis road, and thence to Beech hill: 

County road from Westerly part of Blanford 
to the Northeasterly part of Granville, 1791. 

County road from Middlefield to Granville, 1828. 

(In part) County road from James Beard's to 
Barrington road., 1808. 



Gibbs road, past the Uhl estate, from Nigger hill road 
to Jackson hill: 

Road from County road near the pond Called 
Long pond, 1785. 



Road from East Otis to Beach hill, past the Beech hill 
school- house etc.: 

County road from Otis to Granville East parish 
by the house of Jedediah Smith. 



Road from Blandford over Peebles hill and Beech hill: 
West middle road from Blanford to Granville, 1791. 



ADDITIONAL NOTES ON THE TURNPIKES 
gleaned from Holland's "History of Western Mass- 
achusetts," Vol. I, Chap. XIX. 

The Eleventh Massachusetts Turnpike Corpo- 
ration's route (1801) was as follows: "To begin atthe 
south line of Massachusetts, at or near the ending 
of the turnpike road lately established by the leg- 
islature of the State of Connecticut; thence into and 
through the East parish of Granville to Blandford 
meeting house, and from thence through the town 
street in Blandford, by the usual Pittsfield road, so 
called, and into the town of Becket by the same road, 
until it connects with the road of the Eighth Turn- 
pike Corporation." This latter road was what is 
now known as the state road from Westfield, along the 
the river to Chester, past "Falley's store" of a century 
ago. 

The Blandford and Russell Turnpike Corporation 
was established somewhat later, and while impor- 
tant as opening a convenient thoroughfare to the 
valley towns, and to the railroad when that came in, 
had no tavern history, and in general pursued a 
career so ordinary and quiet as to have furnished 
little or nothing for the historian to make particular 
record of. 



Appendix III 



Certain things which those interested would very 
much like to know about the old Housatonic road 
and Pixley's tavern are provokingly obscure. Con- 
tinued study of the matter since the earlier part of 
the book was printed seems pretty certainly to yield 
these results, some of which are old, and some new. 

(1 ) The first path, or road, was that on which 
Pixley's tavern was located. This is certain. 

(2 ) A well defined and uncontradicted tradition 
locates Pixley's at, or close by, the house of N. C. 
Julien, as stated in chapter I. The conjectural 
continuation of this road is indicated on the map. 

(3 ) The original log tavern never fully complied 
with the legislative condition laid down for it. 

(4 ) In 1738 (see page 1 1 ) , a new house was ordered 
on a new location, to carry on the tavern business. 
This new house was "To stand near the new Road 
at the North end of the granted premises;" that 
is, at the north end of the farm. The traditional site 
of the log tavern was near the centre of the farm. 
This is all so plain, I wonder I had not discovered 
it before. 

(5 ) I have not been able to find any lay-out of 
this "new road," but beyond a doubt the present 
"Otis road," coinciding very closely with the "Shef- 
field road," indicated by the dotted line of the map, 
from Blair pond westward, is the one in question. 

(6 ) This road last mentioned must be, in general, 
with possible minor variations, that referred to in 
the county lay-out of 1754, as "ye old path." The 



lapse of some sixteen years would be enough for the 
"new" to become "old". See page 91. 

(7 ) Now this road passed Carrier's, that gentle- 
man having been a successor of Pixley. The house, 
then, had been re-built according to legislative 
order. 

(8 ) Statements on page 93 are correct, except 
that the "new road" preceded the road of 1754, 
instead of following it, and the dotted line did, 
after all, belong in the early plan. Furthermore, the 
description of the commissioners of 1754, which is 
vague in many particulars, comports with the in- 
terpretation here given. 

(9 ) This road, as matter of fact, cuts athwart the 
extreme northerly end of Pixley's farm, which was 
bought by Jonathan Shepard (see page 93 ) . On 
this road and farm stands the house referred to in 
pages 93 and 94. It is very ancient, very tavern- 
like and large, with the wide-spread and persistent 
tavern tradition connected with it. Was this house 
Pixley's second tavern building? I incline to 
believe it. 



Index 



Abbreviations: f., following page, ff., following pages, n., note 



A 
Adams, John, 29. 
Adultery, 196. 
Adventurer, 5, 18, 31. 
Albany, 16f , 34, 70, 75, 77, 95, 97, 
266, 289. 

road, v. Road. 
Allyn, David, 159. 
Almanac, 15, 70, 233, 233. 
Almy, Job, 136, 143, 145, 190f. 
Alvord, Enos, 251. 
America, 112, 122. 
Amherst, Gen., 75. 
Aristocracy, Chaps V. and VI:, 304. 
Aristophanes, 243. 
Armory hill, 267. 
Army, 13, 34, 75, 78f , 117. 
Army life, 122. 
Ashley, Wm., 154, 173. 
Ashmun, Eli P., 35, 53ff., 156, 160, 
189, 194, 197ff., 203 

George, 34, 57f. 

John Hooker, 57f. 

Justus, 33ff., Chap. V; 100, 
148, 166, 176, 184, 244f , 272. 

Keziah, (Widow) 54. 

Reuben, 60. 

Titus, 60n. 

Widow v. Keziah. 
Ashmun's, 100, 215. 
Assault, 193ff. 
Atkins, Mr. 48. 

Attwater, Russell, 38, 53, 149, 154, 
164ff, 169n, 173, 176, 193, 
231, 244. 
Automobile club, 17, 278. 

B 
Babcock, James, 142. 
Bacon, Dr. Leonard, 121. 
Bacons, John, 196. 
Badger, Rev. Joseph, 38, 122, 143f, 
158, 287, 305, 325. 

Mrs. 245. 
Baggwell, 138. 
Baird, Beard, 138. 

Aaron, 244. 

James, 138, 287, 298. 

confession of, 305f 

James, Jr., 138, 224n., 298n., 
304ff. 

John, 224n., 
Baird lot, 138, 142. 

tavern, 129, 196, 297, 303, 306ff., 
326. 
Ball, 161f. 
Balow, Jas., 195. 



Bancroft, Rhodolphus, 205f. 
Bancrofts, the, 206. 
Barber, Matt., 251. 
Barkhampstead, 95. 
Barnard, Thomas, 200. 
Barnes, Linus B., 174 
Barthomomew, Samuel A , 297ff., 
307ff. 

house, 196. 
Bartholomews, the, 307ff. 
Bay path, 13. 
Beach, Samuel, 159. 
Beard, v. Baird. 

Becket, 15, 32, 82, 95, 98, 221, 301. 
Beech hill, 47, 55, 62, 181, chap. VII; 

217, 235, 247, 251, 313, 315. 
Bement, Judah, 32, 167, 169, 220. 
Bements, the, 169. 
Bennett, E. W. 69n. 
Berkshire, 35, 263. 

county, 22, 56, 79. 

hills, 279. 

towns, 304. 
Bethlehem, 95. 
Beulah-land, 99. 
Bill of rights, 143. 
Birch hill, 47, 69, 83, 133, 249, 252, 

279. 
Bishop, M. E., 209. 
Black, Archibald, 231. 

David, 99. 

Hugh, 180. 

Robert, 99f., 104. 
Blacksmith, 169ff„ 197, 212, 253, 
293, 323. 

v. innholder. 

shop, 152, 217. 
Blair, Blier, 

Asa, 117, 159. 

Dolly, 141. 

Isaac, 271. 

Jacob 271. 

John, 3rd, 197f. 

Matt., 103f„ 128, 142, 163, 271. 

Matt., Jr., 104. 

Dr. Nathan, 144, 191, 200f. 

Reuben, 117, 201. 

Robert, 128, 162f., 167, 245, 271. 

Jr, 163ff. 

Sr., 163f. 

2nd, 163. 

3rd, 163. 

4th, 163, 165. 

Rufus, 141, !67f. 

Samuel, 141f. 

Timothy, 272 



Blair homestead, 105. 

pond, 92f. 
Blairs, the, 10S, 129, 166, 170, 184, 

231, 271. 
Blandford Monthly, 265n. 
Blockhouse, 10. 
Boies, Boys, Boyce, Boise. 

Anson, 197. 

Betsey, 139. 

David, 123, 130, 190, 240. 

Elizabeth, 139. 

Enos, Sr., 317f. 

Enos W., 149n., 317. 

John, 26n., 71ff., 148, 163, 276, 
277. 

John, Jr., 72. 

farm of, 151, 154. 

house of, 152. 

Landlord, 134. 

Levi, 287. 

Milton, 64. 

Reuben, 39, 86, 88, 90, 117, 222, 
244f. 

Rufus, 244. 

Samuel, 36, 39, 123, 130, 137, 142, 
159, 191, 220L, 244f., 277. 

Samuel 2nd. 139, 221. 245. 

Watson E., 317f. 

Wm., 28n., 36, 142f., 159, 195, 
244, 276f. 
Boies tavern, 134, 136f., 143ff., 297. 
Boieses, the, 87, 128, 139, 143. 
Bolton, John, 274ff., 281. 
Boniface, 28. 
Bondsmen, 200. 
Books, v. library. 
Boston, 12, 31, 74ff., 103, 179, 
225, 291, 324f. 

and Albany, v. road. 

and Hartford, v. road. 

and Worcester, v. road. 

bank, 133. 
Boundary, disputes, 5. 
Bowers, Wm., 299. 
Bowles, Samuel, 34, 57, 59n , 60n 
Boys, 21, 99, 246ff. 
Bradley, Geo., 160, 174. 

James, 174. 

John, 174. 

Thomas, 174, 176. 
Bradley business, 174. 
Brandy, 63, 112, 188f, 227, 229. 

book, 189. 

in the spirit, 188. 
Brewer, John, 92. 
Brewer, Josiah, 82. 
Brewer place, 75. 
Brewster, Jonathan, 82. 

Dr. Joseph Wadsworth, 144. 
Bridge, 37. 

Bridle path, 13, 18, 272. 
Brighton, 263. 
Bristol, 95. 

Bromley, Rev. Daniel, 207. 
Brook, 84, 86, 177. 

Bedlam, 128. 

Birch meadow, 47. 

Black's, 269, 280. 



Borden, 213. 

Branch, 128. 

Freeland, 271. 

North Meadow, 98. 

Peebles', 37, 180, 213. 

Pond, 85. 

Potash, 252. 

Salmon, 314. 
Brookfield, 324. 
Brooks, late James S., 10 n 
Brown, Sarah, Sary, 22 1. 

Dr. Plumb, 172n. 

Solomon, 38, 78, 191, 290. 

Wm., 78, 138, 224, 287. 
Brown lot, 138. 
Bruce, Ebenezer, 292f., 308. 

Jesse, 292. 
Buffalo robes, 44. 
Bull, James, 80. 

Joseph, 153, 173, 190f., 2 31. 

Samuel, 196. 
Bunnel, Bunnell, Enos, 193. 

Moses A., 172. 

Moses and Enos, 172. 
Bunnell's, 231. 
Burgoyne, 34, 75, 88. 
Burlington, 95. 
Burying-yard, -ground, 32, 73, 84, 

104, 116, 223, 274, 195. 
Butler, Rev. Daniel, 47, 203 247 f ., 

312ff. 
Butler family, 203. 

house, 205, 210. 
Button, Perry, 230. 

C 
Cables, Jared, Jerod, 129, 308, 316. 
Caldwell, James, 17 7f. 
Campbell, Campbl, Widow, 182. 
Campbell lane, 181. 
Cannon, Carnahan, 

Martin, 193. 

Robert, 197. 

Samuel, 24, 133, 135, 221. 

Stephen, 197. 

William, 126, 128, 223. 
Cannon farm, 171. 
Canton, 95. 
Card, D., 204. 
Card-board maker, 165. 
Carr, v. Kar. 
Carriage, 258f., 262. 
Cart, 26 If. 
Catamount, 300ff. 
Cattle, 263. 
Cellar hole, 2, 17, 69, 130, 185, 211 

229. 
Cemetery, 89, 99, 21 Of. 
Century dictionary, 240. 
Chair, 262. 
Chaise, 260f. 
Chapin, Chester W v 319 
Chapman, Benjamin, 117. 

Chief Justice, 59. 

Lewis, 319. 
Chariot, 258. 
Chelsea, 13. 
Chester, 198, 321, 326. 
Chesterfield, 159. 



Chicago, 66. 

Child sworn, 196. 

Children, v. boys, girls. 

Christmas, 305. 

Church, 4 102f, 116, 246, 250. 

American, 122. 

discipline, 157, 303ff. 

members, 238. 

v. minister, meeting-house, etc. 
Churches of Hartford, 315. 
Cider, cyder, Sider, 23, 39, 112, 120, 

188, 226ff, 283. 
City of Homes, 215. 
Civil, claim, 203ff. 

War, 250. 
Clapp, Parsons, 156. 
Clark, Chester, 197. 

Joseph, 12f. 
Clarke, Rev. Dorus, 158, 172, 247ff, 
260. 

Mrs. 260. 
Clerk, as title, 241. 

of town, v. town clerk. 
Clock-maker, 165. 
Clothier, 283. 

Coach, 258, v. Stage, stage-coach. 
Cochran, Cornelius, 217. 

Glass, 222. 

John, 22 If. 

John, Jr., 193. 
Cochran house, 271f., 281, 284f. 

pond, v. pond. 
Coe, Oliver, 287. 
Collector, 259. 

of taxes, 37, 259. 
College, 45. 

f Harvard, 57. 
Oberlin, 120. 
IS Robert, 118. 

Whitman, 133, 249. 

Williams, 247ft!., 288. 

Yale, 40, 122, 186. 
Collester, John, 123. 
Collins, David, Jr., 160. 

Amos M., 173, 246. 
Colonial Dames, 229. 
Committee, of inspection and safety 
35. 

on pulpit supply, 36. 

to seat meeting-house, v. inn- 
holder. 
Common, v. ten-acre lot. 
Commonwealth, 13, 18, 278. 
Concord, 36. 
Congress, 55n., 250. 
Connecticut, 5, 27, 257, 318. 

river, 9, 289. 

State, 156, 203, 212, 312. 

valley, 42, 131. 
Continental road, v. road. 
Cook, Prentice B., 161. 
Cooks, the, 282. 
Cordwainer, 240. 
Corner tavern, v. tavern. 
Council, ecclesiastical, 22, 24, 38, 
Counterfeiting, 196. 



County,. 

commissioners, 88. 

road, v. road. 
Court, Beech Hill, chap. VII. 

of common pleas, 41, 160. 

General, 5, 7, 9, 11, 14, 74, 108. 
188, 256. 

of general sessions, 8, 9, 21. 

Supreme Judicial, 202. 
Crawford, Joseph, 193. 
Crawford, Mary Caroline, 29. 
Criminal docket, 188. 

suit, 19 Iff. 
Crocker, Ebenezer, 290. 
Crooks, John, 284. 

Wm., 221. 
Crosby, Rev. Aaron, 141. 

Logan, 160, 282. 
Culver, Asa, 90. 
Curricle, 262. 
Curse, 198. 

D 
Daughters of American Revo- 
lution, 229. 
Day, Plin, 283. 

Samuel, 65. 
Days, the, 282. 
Dayton, Giles, 231, 252. 
Deacon, 103. 

Blair, 103, 128, 142. 
' Boies, 142f., 220. 
'■' Gibbs, v. Ephraim, Israel. 
''• Knox, 69. 
f Lloyd, 207. 
Dearing place, 94n. 
Deer warden, 2 1 . 
Delehanty, Mrs, lOln. 
Delirium tremens, 228. 
Devil's half-acre, 181, 204ff., 212, 

214f. 
Dexter, W. H., 11 In. 
Distiller, 12, 188. 
Disturbing an assembly, 205. 
Docket, 123, 188ff. 
Doctor, v. Joseph Wadsworth 
Brewster, Joseph B. Elmore. 
Eli Hall, Robert King, Nath- 
aniel Little, Thomas Lucas, 
John White. 
"Dolls, 1200," 296. 
Donaghy, Wm., 131. 
Doolittle, Philemon, 280f. 

Titus, 279f. 
Douglas, John B. 

John S., 251. 

Stephen A., 59f. 
Dray, 84. 

Drinking habits, v. tavern. 
Drunkeness, 119, v. Tavern. 
Dunlap, Edward, 148n. 
Dwight, James Scott, 156. 

Jonathan, 150, 156. 

Pres. Timothy, 40, 44, 94257. 
E 
Earle, Mrs. Alice Morse, 44, 112,310. 
East part, 28 Iff. 
Eells, Cushing, 133, 249. 

Joseph, 133f„ 249. 



Eells hill, 134. 

home, 134. 
Egremont, 71. 
Elder, 142f., 305. 
Elevations, 84ff , 95, 252. 
Elmore, Dr. Toseph., 156, 172, 199. 
Ely, Caleb, 225. 
Ely's, 70. 

Emerson, Charles Chauncy, 57. 
Emigration, 261, 325f . 
Enfield, Conn., 28, 267, 324. 
England, 112. 

Episcopal, society, 143, 145, 17b, 
Epitaph, 139, 223, 294. 
Esquire, 241. 
Europe, 122. 
Excise, 8, 12. 
Execution, papers, 189. 

sale, 139, 156, 230£E. 

v. sheriff. 

F 
Fairchild, Pres., 161. 
Falley's cross-roads, 275, 321. 

store, 299. 
Falls road, v. road. 
FalstafT, 229. 
Farmer, 188. 
Farmington, 95. 

river, 92, 95, 314. 
Farnum, Noah 2nd, 193. 
Ferguson, John, 143. 

Samuel, 2 21-: 
Field. Edward, 25, 113, 291, 329n 

Firet division, 71n., 99, 127, 214, 292 

Fish, Aaron, 194, 251. 

Fisher, Sydney George, 219. 

Flip, 39, 112. 

Flood, 319f. 

Follet, John, 152. 

Foreclosure, 101, 109. 

Foreigner, 284. 

Forgery, 196. 

Fort, 144. 

George, 76, 78, 223. 
at Pixley's, 10. 

Ticonderoga, v. Ticonderoga. 
Foye, John, 290. 
Franklin, Benj., 122, 219. 
Frary, Jno., 37. 
Frary's mills, 37, 215. 
Freeland, James, 224n. 
Freeman, 238. 
Frost, David, 209. 
G 
Gageborough, 15. 
Gate-house, 255. 

General Assembly, Hartford, 29. 
Gentleman, 18, 188, 240ff., 282. 
Gibbs, Abner, 290. 

Ephraim, 245, 290, 297. 
Isaac, 135f.. 140, 287. 
Israel, 24, 135, 141, 271. 
John, 134, 141. 
Lyman, 217. 
Samuel, 138, 217. 
Wm H., 9, 23, 83, 228, 246, 253, 
287. 



Gibbs families, 297. 
Glasgow, Scotland, 69. 
Glasgow, Glasgo, Glascow Glasgow 
lands, New Glasgow, etc., 2, 5,. 
9, 10, 13f., 20ff., 239. 
hall, 169n., 175n. 
mountain, 77, 79, 279. 
Goodell Jabez, 62. 
Gore, Mr., 56. 
Gore, the, 127ff., 253f. 
Granby, Conn., 318, 321. 
Grand jury, jurors, 73. 
Granger, 317. 

Granville, 13, 95, 186L, 193ff., 212, 
318, 321. 
East, 313, 321. 
Middle, 32 If. 
West, 85n., 132. 
Great Barrington, 15, 70, 77, 79 £., 
84, 129. 
v. road. 
Britain, 257. 
Green, mountains, 95. 

Woods, 15f., 70, 77, 79, 98, 288, 

301. 
v. road. 
Greylock, 288. 
Griffin, Wm., 195. 
Griswold's mill, 314. 

H 
Hadley, 121. 
Haley, Nathaniel, 194. 
Half-way house, 16. 
Hall, Dr. Eli, 175, 246. 
Luke, 175. 
Luke Hall's inn, 175. 
Hamilton, Agnes, 178. 
Armour, 178. 
Francis, 96. 
John, 28n. 
Mary, 224n. 
Robert, 224n. 
Widow, 177f. 
Hamlin. Rev. Cyrus, 118. 
Hampden, Co., 258. 
Hampshire, county, 8, 56, 73, 83, 
124, 198. 
Gazette, 34n., 54nff. 
Hancock, 29, 267. 
Hannon, Wm., 
Harding Isaac, 
Harrington, Herrmton, 264. 
Harris, Benjamin, 211. 
Harrison, Horace, 193. 
Harroun, Herren, David, 290ff., 308 
Hartford, 31, 97, 148, 312, 319, 321ff 

v. road. 
Hartland, 95. 
Hastings, Rev. H. L„ 228. 
Hatch, Timothy, 36, 148ff., 162, 167, 
170, 184, 244f., 251. 
Timothy L., 153ff. 
Hatches, the, 62, 167, 231. 
Hatch, house, 166, 172. 

tavern, 165n., 170, 172. 
Hatter, 152, 283. 
Hatter's shop, 150f., 153, 156. 
Hayden, Elias, 191. 



Hazzard, James, 133. 244. 
Margaret, 225. 
Robert, 224. 
Hazzard pond, 133. 
Heath, Gen., 79. 
Henry, James, 123ff. 

Jonas, 2721'. 

Myron E., 7 In. 

Robert, 26n., 8Sf., 104. 
Herren, v. Harroun, 
Herrick, H. K., 181n. 
Herrinton, v. Harrington. 
Hewson, v. Huston. 
Highway commission, 

v. county, and road. 
Higgins, Mrs. L. W., 26Sn. 
Hillard, Geo. H., 58. 
Hills, Joseph, 123. 
Hinds, Henry, 194. 
Hinsdale, 15, 32n., 321f. 
Hobbs, John, 224n. 
Holland, J. G., 14n., 299. 
Home-lots, 21, 32, 69n., 98f . 
103f., Ill, 127, 132, 135, 148, 
152, 184, 214, 269, 286. 
Honey, 107. 
Hopesby, Samuel, 251. 
Hopkinton, 20, 217, 239f. 
Horn, driver's, 308. 
Horseback, 5, 102f., 144, 260, 266. 
Hosier, 47. 

Housatunnack, Houssatanick, 
Housatonic etc., 6, 9, 15, 22. 

v. road and Tunock. 
Householder, 225. 
Housewright, 240. 
How, Margaret, 221. 
Howe, Ephraim, 287. 
Hudson river, 34, 79. 
Huntington, 269ff. 
Husbandman, 239f. 
Huston, John, 20f., 25. 

Mr., 23f. 

Robert, 21, 25, 26n., 32n.,238. 

Wm., 21, 25. 
Hustons, the, 25f. 
Hutchin's almanac, 15. 

I 
Indians, 118, 130, 223. 
Ingersoll, David, 1 1 . 
Inn, v. tavern. 
Innholder, 

as blacksmith, 28, 114. 

as business man,' 25, 95, 103f., 106, 
141, 147, 151. 

as candidate for rank, 243ff. 

as committee of inspection and 
safety,^ 35, 106. 

as committee on pulpit supply, 35. 

as committee on roads, 82. 

as committee to seat meeting- 
house, 27, 36, 141, 151. 

as constable, 224, 278. 

credentials of, 41. 

as deacon, v. deacon. 

as farmer, 53. 

as gentleman, 123, 244. 

library of, 46, 47. 



Inholder, Continued 

as militia officer, 123, 150. 

as moderator of town meeting, 
28, 35, 106, 140, 150. 

as politician, v. Tavern. 

as postmaster, 151. 

seat of, in meeting-house, 245. 

as selectman, 25, 28, 35, 73, 102, 
106, 140, 150. 

as sexton, 36, 100. 

as squire, 123, 244. 

Stowe, squire, 313. 

traditional career of, 35, 61. 

v. also under Almy, Job, 

Ashmun, Justus; Keziah, 

Alvord, Enos, 

Baird, James; James, Jr., 

Barber, Matt., 

Blair, Robert; Robert, Jr., Rufus. 

Boies, Samuel; Samuel 2nd; 
Reuben; Wm., 

Bruce, Ebenezer; Jesse, 

Clark, Joseph, 

Day, Plin, 

Douglas, John S., 

Goodell, Jabez, 

Hall, Luke 

Hamilton, Agnes; Armour, 

Harding, Isaac, 

Harroun, Herren, David, 

Hatch, Timothy, 

Henry, Jonas. 

Huston, John; Robert; Wm., 

Knox, John, 

Laflin, Luther, 

Lamb, Eliphalet, 

Lloyd, Issac; John; Sergius W., 

Loomis, Justin, 

Noble, Solomon, 

Parks, Roger; Warham, 

Pease, Abner; Levi; Nathaniel, 

Pixley, Joseph, Jr., 

Porter Samuel, bbD., 

Reece, 

Root, Hewet, 

Scott, Benjamin, Margaret, 

Sheldon, Elisha Buck, 

Slocum, Eleazer, 

Sloper, Samuel, 

Smith, Asa, 

Stebbins, Gad, 

Stewart, Samuel, 

Taggart, Nathaniel, 

Watkins, Russel, 
Intemperance, 122, 155ff. 
Inventory, of Justus Ashmun, 45f., 
SOff. 

Armour Hamilton, 179. 

Samuel Sloper, 108. 
Ireland, 87, 225. 
Irish, 227. 
Irishman, 102. 
Itinerary, 15, 70, 288, 321f. 

J 
Jackson, Ezra, 217. 
Jefferson, Thomas, 122. 
Jerod bars, 129. 
Johnson, Capt. John, 78. 

Jonas, 124. 



Johonnot, Zechariah, 12. 

Judge, v. Justice, squire, court, etc. 

Julien, N. C, lOn. 

July 4, 205, 266. 

Justice of the peace, 36, 124, 160. 

K 
Kar, Karr, Ker, Carr, etc. 

Eleanor, 222f. 

James, 222. 

Katherine, Jr., 222. 

Widow Katherine, 222f. 

Wm., 222f., 240. 
Kattlen, Mr., 27, 104. 
Keep, Mrs., 161f. 

Rev. John, 120f., 149, 159, 161f„ 
172, 175, 226, 246, 260. 
Kennedy, Ebenezer, 193. 

Henry, 194. 
Kinderhook, 16, 71, 77, 222. 
King, James, 196. 

John, 124. 

Dr. Robert, 176, 181. 
Kittredge, Geo. Lyman, 235n. 
Knox, 70. 
Knox, Adam, 69, 71. 

Alanson, 63, 160. 

Curtis, 196. 

David, 115. 

Elijah, 48, 69n. 

Gen. Henry, 74, 76, 78, 279. 

John, 28n., 69, and n., 159, 277 

Samuel, 55n., 65f., 117, 135n., 249 
292. 

Titus,' 197. 

Wm., 36, 39, 48, 69, 159,, 275, 
277, 283. 

Wm., Jr., 149. 
Knoxes, the, 282. 
Knowlton, I. W., 251. 

Jared, 196. 

Wm., 196. 

L 
Laflin, Luther, 139, 174, 255. 
Laflin elm, 174. 
Lake George, 78. 
Lamb, Eliphalet, 251. 
Land allotment, 219. 
Land grant, 6ff. 
Land ownership, 5, 23 7f. 
Landlord, v. innholder, tavern. 
Lathrop, Thos., 110. 
Law, Roy all professor of, 5 7. 
Law school, 57. 
Lawlessness, 206. 
Lawton, C. J., 6ff., 20. 
Lawyer, 55ff., 62. 
Lebanon, 267. 

Ledger, Sloper's, 29, 105, 109, 113. 
Lee, Rev. J., 209. 

town of, 252, 266. 
Legislature, 6, 1 Iff. , 18, 56, 59, 79. 

committee of, 39. 

v. General Court. 

Lenox, 17, 95, 266, 278. 

Leonard, Heman, 191. 

Martin, Co., 115. 
Libel, 204. 
Library, 47f., 50. 



License, 9, 12, 20, 39, 41, 47, 64, 70 
72, 85f., 100, 103, 105, 133, 137 
139, 145, 173. 

v. Innholder, Retailer, Tavern. 
Lilacs, 2. 
Lime, 263. 

Lincoln, Pres., 55n., 59, 250. 
Liquor, amount sold, 112f., 120. 
Liquor habit, v. tavern. 
Little, Dr. Chas. H., 144, 231. 

Nathaniel P., 173, 176. 
Little river, 72, 128, 180, 212f. 
Lloyd, Loyd, Loughead, etc., 

Alexander, 204f. 

Isaac, 61, 63, 90, 139. 

James, 195. 

James 2nd, 195. 

John, 190, 194, 208, 211f., 216, 
224n. 

John Lloyd tavern, 316. 

Mary, 224n. 

Rachel, 96. 

Robert 159 207, 209, 212, 214. 

Sergius W., 61. 

Wm., 90, 213. 
Lloyds, the, 204. 
Log house, 26, 186. 
Lombardy poplars, 2, 206. 
Long pond, v. pond. 
Longmeadow, 260. 
Loomis, Lumus, 

Amos, 134n. 

Enos, 115. 

James, 290. 

Justin, 64. 
Lord's day, 193, 275, 303ff. 
Lottery, 80f. 

Louden, 38, 74f., 93, 95, 115, 221. 
Lumberman, 188. 
Lucas, Thos., 293. 
Lumus, v. Loomis. 
Lyman, Asahel, 190f. 
Lyman and Collins, 173f. 

M 
Mack, David, 272. 
Mail, U. S., 317ff., v. Stage, Road. 
Mansion house, 26, 135, 140, 144, 

290. 
Mark, his, 241. 

Marshal, Jonas Nut Dwight, 150. 
Massachusetts, 5, 35, 41f., 95, 218, 
227, 248, 257. 

Western, 22, 75n., 257, 318. 
McClenachan, Rev. Wm., 11. 
McConoughey, David, 28n., 37, 

130f. 
McKinstry, Jenny, Jinnv, 224f. 

John, 224f. 

John, Jr., 224. 
McMurag, Geo., 222. 
Meeting-house, 20f., 27, 33, 72, 82, 
89, 98ff., 104, 117, 124f., 13 If. 
140f., 144, 171, 177, 182, 187. 
214, 217, 289. 

and tavern, v. tavern. 
Merchant, 61, 172, 244. 
Merit, Asa, 48. 
Merphy, v. Murphy. 



Methodism, Mass.' 207, 231. 
Methodist Episcopal, church, 32n., 
160, 207fL, 214. 

conference, 208. 

meetings, 20Sff. 
Middlefield, 15, 321. 
Middletown, 190. 
Mill,104, 128, 181, 217, 283. 

v. saw-mill. 
Military duty, 117ff. 

parade, 117ff., 144. 

titles, 120, ISO, 166, 241. 
Militia, 120ff. 
Miner house, 264. 
Minister, 18, 26, 114, 235, 257. 

first, 1 Iff., 15. 

v. Joseph Badger. 

Daniel Bromley. 

Daniel Butler. 

Dorus Clarke. 

Aaron Crosby. 

H. L. Hastings. 

John Keep. 

J. Lee. 

Wm. McClenachan. 

James Morton. 

Joseph Patrick. 

Jedediah Smith, the elder. 
Minor, Cyrus, 197. 
Missouri, 55n., 250. 
Mitchel, Wm, 159, 284, 293. 
Mixer, 274. 

Moderator of town meeting, v. inn- 
holder. 
Monterey, 75. 
Montgomery, James, 177, 180f. 

Robert, 177, 180f. 

Wm., 48. 

town 200. 
Moor, Moore, James, 91. 

Jefferson, 21 In. 

President, 247. 

Thomas, 194. 
Moral state of country, 121, 226ff. 
Morgan, Simeon, 202, 231. 
Mortgage, 149, 156, 230ff., 244. 
"Mortal Fuddy", 102. 
Morton, Mrs. Elizabeth H., 34n. 

Rev. James, 22, 24, 26n., 32, 74, 
85f., 103f., 173n., 176ff., 182, 
188, 228f., 293. 

Wido, Widow, 245. 
Mountain house, 19n. 
Mt. Gomery, v. Montgomery. 
Murphy, Merphy, 

Daniel, 222 

Edward, 222. 

Eleanor, 222. 

Frederick, fradrach, 222ff. 
Murrayfield, 108, 25 In., 274. 

N 
Natchez, 186. 
New Connecticut, 325. 
New England, 4, 20, 28, 31,40ff., Ill 
113, 218f., 226, 236f., 240ff. 
255, 278. 

development of, 236, 311. 



Historical and Genealogical Reg- 
ister, 76n. 

town, 187, 237, 310. 

travel, 94, 31 Off. 
New Englanders, 187, 226, 236. 
New Glasgow, v. Glasgow. 
New Hampshire, 41, 288. 
New Hartford, 95. 
New Haven, 318. 
New Orleans, 268. 
New York, 35, 218, 325. 
Newbury, Roger, 22. 
Newspaper privilege, 321. 
"Nigger hill", 129. 
Nine Partners 222. 
Noble, (Capt.) John, 160, 213, 258f., 
301f., 311. 

Silas, 213. 

Solomon, 48, 111, 152, 155f., 164. 
170f., 193, 231, 244, 259. 
Noble's Tavern, 170, 172. 
Noble hill, 75, 92, 114. 
Nobletown, 16, 71. 
North Blandford, 85, 89, 127, 129. 
217, 252, 254, 264, 268, 289. 
299, 319. 
North Bloomfield, 314n. 
North end, 98; chap. 11. 
North Granby, 314n., 321. 
North meadow, 315. 
North meadow brook, v. brook. 
North meadow pond, v. pond. 
North street, v. Road. 
Northboro, 324. 

Northampton, 9, 21, 56, 58, 200, 
222, 295. 

Northwest Territory, 325. 
Norton, 82. 
Norton and Ely, 264. 
Norwich, 108, 198. 

Bridge, 273. 
Number One, town, 15, 77, 83, 86, 
93. 

Two, 15. 

Three, 15. 

Four, 15, 98, 286. 

Three, farm-lot, 254. 
Nutt, Wm., 217. 
Nye, James P., 128n. 

L. C. and Son, 178n. 

Randall, 282. 

O 
Oath, v. swearing. 
Ohio, 116, 176. 
Old Northwest, 116. 
"Old Rorum," 155. 
"Old whips", 317. 
Orchard, 172, 226f. 
Ordination, 246ff. 

Joseph Badger. 

Dorus Clarke. 

John Keep. 

James Morton. 
Osborn, Osborne, Osburn. 

Alexander, 240. 

John, 238. 

Mr., 48. 
Osborne place, 180n 



Osbornes, the, 128. 
Otis, 38n., 76, 127. 

East, 84, 94. 

Harrison Gray, 56. 
P 
Paine, Tom, 122. 
Palmer, 321. 

Parade, 117, 123, 130, 171, 184. 
Parker, Jacob, 224n. 
Parks, Elisha, 26n., 138. 

Lewis, 169n. 

Reuben, 191. 

Roger, 281. 

Warham, 36f., 82, 135, 137ff, 
244, 282. 

Warren, 302. 
Parks homestead, 282. 
Parkses, the, 137, 282. 
Parliament, 29. 

Parlor, v tavern appointments etc. 
Parsons, Seth, 123f. 
Parsonage, 149, 155, 172, 174. 
Parties 267. 
Partridgefield, 15. 
Patrick, Rev. Joseph, 99. 
Pauperism, 218. 
Peasantry, 237. 
Pease, pees, 184, 217. 

Abner, 33, 38, 100f., 231, 244. 

Alphaeus, 33, lOOf. 

Levi, 28ff., Ill, 323. 

Mr., 104. 

Nathaniel, 27, 32n., 244. 

Robert, 32f„ 100. 
Pease's 33, 100, 103. 
Pease farm, 26f., 148f. 

mill, 217. 
Peddler, 265. 
Peebles, Archibald, 202. 

Eunice, 200. 

Francis, 20 If. 

Harvey, 199ff. 

Jenny, Janny, 204. 

Joel, 202. 

John, 201f. 

Rufus, 202. 

S. H., 69n. 
Peebles' mill, 191, 215. 
Pelham, 28, 30n. 
Pelton, Thomas, 194. 

Stephen. 96. 
Pennsylvania, 325. 
Perkins, Wm., 196. 
Peru, IS. 

Peterson, Wm., 224n., 
Phelps, Grace, 224n. 

John, 197. 

Marv, 222. 

Philip, 205. 

Samuel 222. 

Susanna, Jr., 222. 

Widow Susanna, 222. 
Phelpses, the, 282. 
Physician, v. Doctor. 
Pig, story of, 107. 
Pioneer, 10, 17, 28, 110, 173, 176 

185. 
Pitching, coins, 312. 



Pittsfield, 22, 95, 132, 266, 286. 
Pixley, Joseph, Jr., 

Chap. I; 26. 
Pixley's, 73, 91. 
Pixley 's farm, Chap. I; 93. 
Plaintiff, 190ff. 
"Plunket, Squire", 233. 
Pod, 310. 

Politics, v. innholder and tavern. 
Pond 

Blair, 92f., 211. 

Cochran, 2 7 Off. 

Hazzard, 133. 

Long, 85 

North meadow, 85. 

Second division, 270. 

Twenty-mile, 91. 
Pontusuc, 22, 98, 286. 
Population, 232. 

Porter, estate of Mrs. J. S., 128n 
Porter, Samuel, 167fT. 
Porter's inn, 168. 
Post office, 64, 187. 

rider, 16. 

road, 16, 18, 69, 94. 

route, 15, 252ff. 
Postal star route, 17. 
Postmaster, General, 317. 
Potash works, 15 Of. 
Pound, 130, 144, 184. 
Powder, 291. 
Presbyterian, 207. 
Presbyterianism, Scotch, 209, 218. 
Presbytery, 104. 
Prisoner, 88, 202, 277. 
Proprietor, 5f., 18. 37, 84, 127, 166. 
Prosecution, 62, 191ff. 
Prospect hill, 144. 
Provin, Provan, James, 181. 

Widow Mercy, 181. 

Wm., 177. 
Province, of Mass. Bay, 7f., llff,. 

74, 225. 
Province tax, 275ff. 
Pulpit, 104. 
Pung, 310. 
"Pun'kin", 107. 
Puritan, 23 7n. 

v. New England. 
U 
Quebec, 70. 
Quimby, Irving A., 155n. 

R 
Railroad, 3, 65, 145, 253ff., 261. 
273, 309, 325ff. 

station, 274. 
Redfield, Frederick J., 190. 
Reece, 24. 

Reform, v. temperance. 
Reporter, 226. 
Reporter, 226. 

Retailer, 12, 69f,. 85, 103, 105, 126, 
140ff., 147, 150, 166f., 172, 174f. 
131, 230, 290. 

v. under Almy, Job, 

Attwater, John and Russell, 

Baird, James, 

Barnes, Linus B., 



Retailer, Continued 

Blair, Matt., 

Blair, Samuel, 

Bull, Joseph, 

Bunnell, Moses A., 

Eells, Joseph, 

Gibbs, Ephraim, 

Gibbs, John, 

Gibbs, Lyman, 

Hall, Eli, 

Hannon, Wm., 

Hatch, Timothy, 

Hazzard, James, 

Knox, John, 

Knox, Wm., 

Knowlton.I. W.,j 

Laflin, Luther, 

Montgomery, Robert, 

Parks, Roger, 

Parks, Warham, 

Pease, Nathaniel, 

Sage, Orrin, Oren, 

Shepard, Noah, bb., 

Sinnet, James, 

Sloper, Samuel, 

Smith, Jedediah, 

Stewart, Wm., 

Sylvester, Fordyce, 

Wales, Henry, 

Wallace, Wallis, James, 

Waterman, Robert, 

Watson, John, 

Whitney, Paul and Barnabas, 
Revolution, Revolutionary, etc., 
31, 45, 68, 75, 85L, 91, 105f., 
114. 117, 119, 126, 147, 243, 
289, 304. 
Rhode Islander, 257. 
Rice, Josiah, 240. 
Richards, Davis E., 123ff. 
Rickley's, 91. 
Riley, J. Whitcomb, 300. 
Ripley house, 210. 
Ripley, Roscoe, 136. 
Road, 

Abandoned, 1, 3, 17, 69, 128, 135n. 
281 

Albany, 15, 68, 147ff., 154, 184. 

Berkshire, 83, 128, 182, 211, 252, 
287, Appendix III. 

between first and second di- 
visions, 177. 

between Hampshire and Berk- 
shire counties, Chap. IV., 209. 

Blandfrod to Becket, 140, 183, 
299. 

East Granville, 154, 163, 213. 

Blandford to Green- woods road, 
68, 82, 129, 144. 

Huntington, 280. 

No. Four, 184. 

Northampton, 136, 271, 274. 

Pittsfield, 299. 

West Granville, 173. 

Birch hill, 213. 

Boston and Albany, 135, 254, 326 

Boston to meeting-house in Bland- 
ford, 183. 



Continental, 298 
Road — Continued. 

County, 68, 98, 129, 131, 140, 144, 
180, 183, 209, 213. 

from Granville to Blandford 
and Blandford to Granville 
again, 214. 

from meeting-house in Middle 
Granville to meeting-house in 
Blandford, 215 

from Russell to Blandford, Ap- 
pendix II. 

from Wellers mills to County road 
in Blandford, 284. 

Falley's cross-roads, v. Falley. 

Falls, 177. 

Gore road, or lane, 144, 171, 253. 

Government, 298. 

Granville to Blandford, 165, 180. 

Great, 14, 98. 

Great, from Blandford to West- 
field, 183. r 

Great Barrington, 68. 

Hartford and Albany, 94. 

old Hartford route, 318. 

Housatonic, 7, 14, 19, 32n., 68, 82. 

importance of, If. 

Lenox to Becket, 272. 

to Lee, 252f. 

Loudon to Granville, 94. 

middle, 82. 

to mill, 176, 181. 

Murrayfield to Blandford, 274, 
280. 

North Blandford, 253. 

Old town, 99, 183, 210. 

Otis, 94. 

Pittsfield and Albany to West- 
field, 280. 

rival, 81. 

river, 299. 

Russell, 32n., 55n. 

Russell to Blandford, Appendix II 

Sanderson hill, 297. 

Second division (road or street) 
149f. 154, 163, 293, 270. 

Sheffield, 32n., 68, 83. 

Skunk, 215n. 

Smith, 297. 

South (road or street) 82, 213, 
259. 

Springfield to Albany, 287. 

Step hill, 89. 

to Stockbridge, 68. 

Stony gutter, 281. 

Sunset rock, 154. 

Westfield to Albany, 7, 14. 

Westfield to Blandford meeting- 
house, 163. 

Westfield to Great Barrington, 
79f., 149. 

Westfield mountain to Blandford, 
83 

Westfield to Partridgefield, 273. 

Town, 132, 

v. Appendix II. 
Robbins, Benjamin, W., 196. 

John, 149, 163. 



Robinson, Charles, 194. 

Howard P. 148n. 
Root Eli, 82 

Hewet, 23, 26n. 

Mr., 23. 
Ross, Mary, 224n. 
Rowe's wharf, 29. 
Rowley, 252. 
Rum, 12, 18, 24, 38f., S3. 109ff., 227, 

233, 311. 
Russell, 

mountain, 69, 133. 

pond, v. pond. 

town, Mass., 133, 197, 200, 278ff 

town, N. Y., 166. 
Rye, 111. 

S 

Sabbath, 40. 
Sacket's, 305. 
Saddle-bags, 31. 
Saddler's shop, 230. 
Sage, Orrin, Oren, 19, 63, 64, 102, 
174, 176, 244. 

Miss, 248. 
Salmon, 304ff. 

brook, v. brook. 
Salt-box house, 211, 293. 
Sambreey, v. Simsbury. 
Sandisfield, 15, 75. 
Saratoga, 77. 
Saw-mill, 104. 

School, 4, 15, 54, 66, 92, 288, 295. 
School-house, 20, 84, 93f., 143f., 

187, 205f., 217, 284. 
Scioto, company, 173, 326. 

valley, 116. 
Scotch, 227. 
Scotch-Irish, 20, 28, 42, 119, 217, 

228, 241. 
Scott, 

Benjamin, 60„ 93ff. 176, 190, 209, 
231. 

Henry W., 61. 

John, 221. 

Widow Margaret, 61. 
Scott's, 95, 231. 
Seating meeting-house, 237fL, v. 

innholder. 
Second division, 26n., 7 In., 154, 

269ff., 293. 
Secretary of War, 76. 
Sedgwick, Judge, 35, 55. 
Selectman, 22 If,. 255, v. innholder. 
Senate, Mass., 59. 

U. S., 56. 
Settlers, 238, 240. 
Settling lot, v. home lot. 
Shad, 304ff. 
Shaker, 253, 267. 
Sheep, 263 f. 
Sheffield, 9, 14ff. 
Sheldon, Elisha Buck, 251. 
Shepard, Barnard. 198, 

Eli, 217. 

Mrs. Elisha, 173n. 

Jonathan, 16, 93. 

Mrs. Joseph, 93. 



Noah, 111, 251. 
Thomas, 259. 
Walter, 152f., 163. 
Widow, 152f. 
William, 111, 272. 
Sheriff, 109, 155ff. 219. 
deputy, 142, 156. 
sale, v. execution sale. 
Shop, 144. 

hatter's v. Hatter. 
Shrewsbury, 29. 
"Shun-pike", 256f. 
Sibley, John, 160. 
Sign of the Lamb, 324. 
Sikes, Reuben, 323f. 
Simsbury, 222, 318, 321. 
Sinnet , James, 116, 133, 292. 

Margaret, 292. 
Sinnet house, 213. 
Sinnets, the, 292. 
Sled, 263,310. 
Sleigh, 263. 
Sling, 233f. 
Slocum, Slocumb, Eleazer, 62, 142 

190f., 231. 
Sloper, Samuel, Colonel, 29, 36ff., 70, 
104ff., 221, 227, 244, 272, 298n. 
304. 
Samuel, Jr., 116. 
Sloper, house, 171. 
lot, 103. 
farm, 171. 
Smith, Asa, 62, 142, 190, 244. 
late A. J., lOln. 
George, 204. 

Jedediah (Jr.,) 36, 47, 55, 62, 70, 
96, 109,. 112, 123 f., chap. VII;, 
227, 235, 244f., 260, 298n. 
the elder, 186. 
account book of, 188. 
Smiths, the, 204. 

Social stratifications, 236ff., v. 
husbandman, yeoman, gentle- 
man, squire, military titles, 
seating meeting-house etc. 
Soldier, 12, 18, 26, 39, 7 5, 106f., 117. 
Somers, 32, 100, 323. 
Sons of American Revolution, 229. 
South street, v. road. 
Spanish milled dollar, 312. 
Speaker, Mass. Legislature, 59. 
Spirits, ardent, v. brandy, cider, 
flip, rum, sling, whiskey, etc. 
Spoon ville, 314n. 

Springfield, 6, 15, 17, 59, 70, 76f., 
142, 150, 208, 213, 224, 228, 
235, 267,276, 278, 312, 324. 
Republican, 34, 58n., 59n, 60n., 
255, 317ff. 
Squire, 24 Iff. 
Squire, Orrin, D., 205. • 
Stage, 16, 31, 40, 63, 66, 70, 97, 135, 
145, 253, 263, 26Sff., 289, 
299, Chap. XII. 
coaching, 40, Chap. XII. 
driver, 66, 216, 307. 
fare, 324f. 



Stage Con'd 

first, and mail route, 32 Iff. 
Chap. XII. 
Stamp act, 29. 
Stebbins, Gad, 251. 
Steep hill, 86, 315. 
Stephens, Darias, 125. 
Steward, Stewart, 

Dea. A. L., 136. 

Samuel, 181. 

Walter, 286. 

William, 251. 
Stillwater, 75. 
Stockbridge, 318. 

Indians, 14. 
Stonehole, 71 
Stone House, 16, 33. 
Store, 29, 64, 95, 116, 133f. 141, 145, 
161, 165, 172f. 184. 217, 226, 
283, 290. 

new, 133. 
Store house, 32f., 116, 217. 

keeper, 106, 230. 
Stranger, 218ff. 
Strong drink, 13, 23, v. Ardent 

spirits. 
Suffield, 6f., 323. 
Suffield Equivalent, 5, 14. 
Sulky, 144, 260, 262, 321. 
Sulphur spring, 21 Iff., 217. 
Sumter, Fort, 59. 
Sunday, 100, 288, 305. 
Sunset rock, 71, 214. 
Surveyor, 5, 7, 22, 83, 103. 
Swamp, black spruce, 95. 

great, 92, 94, 210. 

red ash, 95. 

on street, 130, 132, 144. 
Swearing, 193ff. 
Swine, 263f. 
Sylvester, Fordyce, 159f. 

George H., 159f. 

George H. and Son, 283. 

T 

Tablet, 207. 
Taggard, Taggart, 

Benjamin, 287. 

Nathaniel, 293ff. 

Widow Jane, 295. 
Taggard's, 82. 
Taggart 

school, 295. 
Tailor, taylor, 240, 268. 
Talcot mountain, 314. 
Tanner, 240. 
Tannery hill, 71n., 85. 
Tarriffville, Tarriffeville, 314. 
Tarrot hill, 252. 
Tavern, 144. 

appointments, 9, 42, 50, 87, 207f., 
293f., 298. 

Benton's, 314. 

Carrier's 91. 

Case's, 314. 

and church, 306. 

competive conditions of, 63, 101, 
134, 



Tavern Con'd: 

corner, Chaps. II. and III; 93, 
100f., 119, 126, 139, 142, 212, 
325n. 

and court house, chap. VII. 

dialogue in, 29. 

and drinking habits, 38, 72, 101 , 
112, 119, 154, 203, 226ff. 

fare, 42f., 65, 209, 308ff. 

first, 6ff., 13, Appendix III. 

fun and business of, 75, 101, 145, 
176, 309ff. 

Harrington's, 264. 

Hatch, 164. 

influence of , for evil, 154, 164. 

insufficiency of, 250. 

and litigation, 189ff. 

log book, 27. 

lotteries, 80f. 

Martin's, 324. 

and meeting-house, 20f., 100, 184, 
245f. 

Mixer's, 2 74. 

as neighborhood resort, 39, 291f. 

North Blandford, 264ff. 

Norton and Ely's, 264. 

number of taverns, 142, 289. 

and ordinations, 22f. 

and politics, 25, 37, 122f. 182, 
216, 291f. 

provision for first, 6ff . 

race of, 133ff. 

Rice's 324. 

Sacket's, 305. 

seamy side of, 97, 101, 192, 230ff. 

sheriff' s sales at, v. sheriff, and, 
execution sales. 

shows, 267, 316. 

sign, 168, 171. 

social atmosphere of, 4f., 10, 19, 
39ff., 50, 78, 97, 109ff., 142, 
178f., 216, Chap. VIII. 

social power of, 2, 4, 19, 33, 88, 
116, 142, 182, 184, Chap. VIII. 

statistcs of, 23 Iff. 

and store, 29, 166. 

Stowe's, 210, 215, 313. 

and training days, v. parade, 
training, etc. 

three taverns, 133ff. 

town meeting adjournments to 
24, 38, 180. 

vendues, v. Vendue. 

in war, 126, v. War. 

Washington's, 305. 

Wayside (inn, ) 4, 11, 236. 

winter business of, Chap. XII. 

v. also innholder etc. 
Tavlor, Benjamin, 238. 

Eldad, 74. 
Team, 80. 

Temperance, reform, 119ff., 15", 
231ff. 

society, 158, 23 Iff. 
Temple, J. H„ 30. 
Ten- acre lot, 32, 104, 117. 
Tenant, 226. 
Thomas, Gen., 30. 

Lovewell, 279. 



\ 



Thompson, Eliphalet, 116. 

Win., 48f., 166. 
Thrall, Samuel, 287. 
Threatening, 201. 
"Three cakes," 65. 
Ticonderoga, 74, 76, 78. 
Tithingman, 170. 
Toll, 2S7ff., 299. 
Toll-gate, 255ff. 
Tolland, 94. 
Tory, 126, 186. 
Town, 

clerk, 108, 204, 225. 
Election, 183. 
house, 217. 

meeting, 20, 24, 63, 100, 123, 216. 
street, 20, 29, 69, 85 and n., 90, 
Chaps. V. and VI, 128, 131, 270, 
286f. 
Township, No. 1, 2, 3, 4, v. Number. 
Trader, 61, 142, 161, 172, 190, 244. 
Tradition, 9f., 54, 61, 72, 94, 105, 
107, 126, 135f., 138, 146, 165, 
183 188, 211,' 216f. 218 228, 
259, 261, 264, 283, 297f. 
Traffic, 92, 254, 299. 
Training, v. parade. 
Training field, 32. 
Travel, 31, 40, 64, 77, 94, 104, 195, 

202, 219, 254, 299, 309ff. 
Tunock, v. Housatonic. 
Turnpike, 95, 129, Chap. IX., 286. 
First Mass., 31. 

Eleventh Mass., 132, 215, 286. 
Hampden and Berkshire, v. Ap- 
pendix II. 252, 279. 
of 1829, Appendix II. 
between Springfield and Albanv, 
265. 
Twenty-mile pond, v. Pond. 
Tyringham, 15, 70. 
U. 
Underwood, Duty, 195, 200f., 308, 

316. 
Unimproved lands, 37. 
United States, 259, 321. 
University, v. College. 
Upsan, Upson. 
Daniel, 196f. 
John J., 196. 
Shubael, 96. 
Upson Farm, 171. 

V. 
Vehicle, 300, v. carriage, chaise, 
chair, chariot, conveyance, cur- 
ricle, horseback, pod, pung, 
prairie schooner, sled, sleigh, 
spring, sulky, wagon. 
Vendue, 37, 61, 159ff. 
Vermont, 288. 
Veterinary,, 115. 
Virginian, 2 i9. 
Visitor, 226. 

W 
Wadsworth, commissary, 31. 
Wagon, waggon, 31, 87, 115, 121. 

258ff. 
Wales, Henry, 251. 



Wallace, Wallis, James, 47f. 

Widow Jane, 287. 
Walnut hill, 129. 

War, 3, 10, 12, 26, 30, 39, 55n., 73, 
106, 109, 117, 250, 217, 290ff. 

census, 109. 
Wark, James, 240. 
Warning out of town, 219ff. 
Washington, D. C, 

Mass., 319, 321. 

Gen., 74, 76, 88, 266. 

tavern, v. Tavern. 
Washingtonian movement, 231. 
Waterman, Asahel, 159. 

Robert, 251, 

Zebede, 96, 
Watson, Miss Electa B., 149n. 

James, 176. 

John, 48, 85. 

Wm., 63, 176. 
Watson house, 85, 93. 
Watts, Samuel, 12f. 16. 
Wealth, 240ff. 
Weddings, 266. 
Weeden, W. B. 225n. 236n. 
Welch, Agnes, 224n. 

Elizabeth, 224n. 
Well-sweep, 282. 
Weller's mills, 279, 284. 
West, 45, 110, 326. 
West Granby, 321. 
West Hartford, 315n. 
West India trade, 227. 
Western 193. 

Westfield, 6, 9, 11, 14, 69n., 70, 75, 
78f., 83, 98, 129, 135, 137, 141, 
160, 194, 196, 221ff., 279, 305. 
312. 

academy, 210. 

bounds, 86. 

Little river, 84, 213. v. Little 
river. 

Mountain, 77, 79, 279f., 

River, 252. 
Westfield River Branches, 269ff 
Westfield Valley, 278. 
Wheaton, Chipman, 119. 
Wheeler, Trueman, 82. 
Whippernung, 279. 
Whiskey, 227. 
White, Dr. John, 7 In., 164. 

Vassal, 164, 165n. 
White House, 59. 
Whitman, Marcus, 133, 249. 
Whitney, Ajax, 198. 

Barnabas, 135, 196. 

Joseph, 210. 

Paul and Barnabas, 172. 
Wilbraham, 324. 
Wild cat, v. catamount. 
Williams, Dudley, 196. 
Williamstown, 115, 260. 
Wilson, Willson, James, 277. 

John, 220. 

John G. 197. 

Samuel, 276. 
Windsor, 15. 



Wine, 38. Worcester, 31, 65, 324. 

cellar, 298. Woronoco valley, 131. 

Wintonbury, 321. Worthington, 108. 

Wolves, 300ff. - Wyman, 69n. 

Women, 232, 243, 256, 267. Y 

Wood, John Waldo, 111, 115. Yeoman, yeomanry, 6 1 , 100, 237ff. 



The Plymouth Press, 
Springfield, Mass. 



DEC SC 



y 



